The Sound of An Unsound Soul
by Cloud135
Summary: There's a new student at Shibusen (DWMA) who seems a bit.. off. How this unusual student will affect the lives of everyone around him, who knows? The only thing that's for sure is that every meister needs a weapon, and every weapon needs souls to become a Death Scythe. Follows the anime, rated M just in case for language, violence and who knows what else.
1. New Student, The Fourth Prologue?

Hello everyone! Heya! Wassup wassup Waaaaassupp? Welcome to another Fanfic from the brilliant (or broken) mind of yours truly. i decided i was just having way too much fun doing one fanfic that i just had to do another, and what better series than one of my favorites: Soul Eater. This comic is OC and unlike my first is all original. So let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!

 **Disclaimer: Soul Eater and most characters herein are not my property nor are they my idea. but they're fun as heck to write about!**

 **A** _ **Sound Soul**_ **dwells within a** _ **Sound Mind**_ **and a** _ **Sound Body**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Lost Fourth Prologue**

It was the dead of night, big city that never sleeps and people bustling every which way. The lights from the billboards and giant screen televisions in the downtown area lit up square blocks as far as the eye could see. Sitting on the edge of one was a tiny blip of a person, smoking the last cigarette he had before chucking the cartridge over his shoulder into the alley. Just a tiny dot, unnoticed to everyone below. Well, almost everyone. As the little paper box drops and twists in the night breeze it lands on the shoulder of a masked figure below, catching its attention more than the body it had just mangled in order to get to the soul inside. As the thing looked up the little blip grew quickly, riding a long chain down to about the third story fire escape, watching as this thing licked its lips. **"Another soul.. how yummy."** The smoking teen gave it a quick once over. Axe in hand, hunting souls, and going after single moms, yup this was definitely the one he'd heard about.

 **"Lizzie Borden I presume? I'd say the honor is mine but your murderous ways must end. Surrender your soul quietly so I can go home, I have a headache and I'm supposed to be moving to a new school tomorrow."**

The one known as Lizzie Borden raised her axe threateningly. **"You got an** _ **Axe**_ **to grind with me? If you want my soul so bad you should** _ **axe**_ **nicely, don't you know it's improper manners to address a lady without giving your name? Not that I care I just want more power!"** She lept up to where he was, cleaving the metal railing as he dodged to one side. She brought a second axe overhead and downward, catching the grate above her head for a second before following through. Having plenty of time to evade, the boy in loose clothing swung up to the next level and waited. Lizzie chopped both of her weapons throught the metallic lattice before heaving herself up in one swift move. He kicked back, loose jacket and baggy pants fluttering as he seemingly carelessly dove backwards over the guard rail. Lizzie took advantage of him being in the air and swung a second axe horizontally at his head, knowing he had no way to dodge or reposition himself. In the knick of time he tilted his head back, seemingly uncaring as the ashes from his cigarette were cut away leaving him with a useless unlit nub and a sprinkle of grey on his sunglasses. Lizzie only got a quick look before his shaggy black hair fell back over his eyes, but she was sure of what she saw.

 **"Now you've gone and done it. I'll need to clean those now, not to mention buy another cartridge since you interrupted my last one."** He took the square frame coder glasses off and flicked them, using the inside of his jacket to clean the ash away before replacing them over his eyes. **"That should be fine for a while. I hate cleaning. So futile, things always end up getting messy again. Such a pain in the ass having to clean something twice."**

 **"Twice?"** Lizzie drops from her place, double gainer before burying her hatchet in the pavement where he was just a second ago. When the dust settles, he's actually standing on top of the blade with his hood up. For a second the serial killer looks incredulous, but then a previously nonexistent cut appears on her mask near the chin. She follows the line down with her hand, then her eyes. There's a faint trickle of blood on the ground between them, and she sees why this one victim she chose had put up such a good fight. As the light fades and the young man's arm returns to normal, she drops backward, leaning on her second weapon with her full weight. **"Wh- What are you?"**

 **"I'm a weapon, and starting tomorrow, a student at the Death Weapon Meister Academy."**

 _ **~Ding~Dong~Dong~Ding~**_

His backpack was flopped over one shoulder and hung by his hip. In his ears the music was playing softly to the tune of his footsteps. The sun was high and shining on his black shaggy hair and somewhere in Death City was his new home. That would wait, because as of this moment, he was dealing with perhaps the longest and steepest stairs anywhere in the world. The sheer size of the DWMA was renowned the world over, but to get there everyday the students would have to climb this sub-marathon. It was about two-thirds the way up that someone with blue hair shoved him accidentally while running past. **"Sorry! I'm just too big a guy not to take up the whole stairs. YA-hoo!"**

He took one look and assessed this person that shoved him, while taking a moment to recollect his pamphlet and pencil case. _'He's brawny, obviously devotes a lot of time to strength training. Also not much regard for others. Top it off, he's a loudmouth. Assessment: he won't last long.'_

 **"BlackStar! I'm so sorry about him, please forgive us."** A woman taller than either of the boys approached quickly and bowed, apologizing a couple times before dismissing herself to keep up with the blue haired one. _'She's far more gentle, conservatively dressed, neutral colors. obviously partners with the other. More quiet and reserved, prefering to think a fight out I'm guessing. Assessment: She might succeed if she can get her partner in line."_

Finally reaching the top step, the boy looked around at all the new students taking in the sights. Many were on their cell phones taking photos or making new friends in groups of 4 or more. There would be time for that later. All alone, he kept walking to the room where orientation was supposed to be held this year. Following the signs, he took in a sight or two as he made his way around the massive place, nearly losing his way a few times. Finally, he walked into a hallway where there was a sign in booth and took his tag, displaying the word "Weapon" on his chest. Admittedly, he felt somewhat clumsy with his sleeves being too long to show his hands, so the pen seemed to smudge slightly when handing the paper back. He was directed to the Class called Crescent Moon, where he took a quick peek at the style of the room. It was designed for lecture and that suited him fine, taking a seat in the back corner where he could observe everyone filing in after him. The Orientation was thankfully brief, as the teacher Mr Sid had kept on point as well as making sure the demonstration of weapons and meisters was both concise and understandable for newbies. **"...In conclusion, you'll be learning the best and latest from the best and greatest. Study hard and work hard and you too will be on your way to keeping balance in the world and fighting your way to the top. A few of you may even become legends. Before we conclude and dismiss for the day there are an odd number of weapons and meisters, namely less meisters than weapons. The Academy can try to compensate or accomodate any dual wielders, but for the time being one or more weapons will have to be without a partner."**

He raised his hand, or rather his sleeve with his hand inside it. **"I can go without a partner for the time being."** His tone was a bit dark and quiet, but the blank look on his face belied no disappointment at all. Everyone took a moment to process, not sure what to think of this new guy. It was dropped and Sid took a note that this weapon was voluntarily on solo study, for the time being at least. The bell rang and everyone packed up and headed out, abuzz that they had started a new year of study. Of course he was the last out, save the teacher. When he got to the door Sid called out to him. **"You're him right? I was told that you were a last minute arrival. I understand life here can be confusing or even disorienting but if you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask me. I'm here to help, that's just the kind of guy I am."**

 **"..Thank you Professor. I do need one thing, if you could point me to the nearest store where I might find cigarettes."**

 **"A student like you who's underage shouldn't be smoking. It's a bad habit you know. I guess I can't help you with everything but I won't suggest you smoke, that's not the man I am."**

 **"I see. In that case, may I ask where a good place for a student to live would be?"**

He had found a store all on his own but just like Professor Sid they refused to sell Deathsticks to a minor. He could only heave a sigh and resigned to buy a magazine and a bottle of ramune soda, plopping on the edge of a park where there were a few kids playing basketball. Immediately two of them were recognized as the boy from the stairs and his partner, as well as a young brunette with short twintails and a whitehaired boy who looked a bit predatorial in his grin and his eyes. _'She's very passive-aggressive, much like myself unfortunately. She fits in, having natural leadership capabilities though not the most gifted or strongest of the bunch. Then her partner. Laid back, lazy, but he doesn't waste any effort. So efficient he's inefficient in all his hard work. Assessment: They'll definitely make it. Unlike..'_ His thoughts were interrupted with the unruly bluenet heaved a half court toss that ricocheted right at him. The ball made contact and knocked him over backward, though his face was unchanged. He just lay on his back looking up at the sky as the ball bounced to a still by his side. He took it in his hand, holding it up like a trophy as they all ran over.

 **"Oh my gosh, are you okay?"** the conservatively dressed gentle one from before asked. **"Hey, you're that guy from this morning"**

 **"Oh man, that looks like it hurt. Hey wait, are you just playing it off to be the big hero?"**

 **"Blackstar, shut up. Sorry about that, you okay?"** The one with twintails asked. She seemed to have a sympathetic smile, obviously this was somewhat of a regular experience with this group. _'Maybe they can help me fit in.'_

He straightened up running a sleeve-covered hand over his glasses. **"Are they cracked?"** The white haired boy blinked, confused. **"My glasses, are they cracked?"**

 **"You're okay with getting hurt as long as you look cool? I guess that makes you cool too. Come on, up ya go."** They got him to his feet, a bit weirded out by the fact that his hands never show. After the oddball in the oversized green-and-black striped jacket dusted off and shook his head, he tilted his neck to pop both sides. **"Dimitri. My name. Dimitri Makovic."**

 **"Oh! Nice to meet you, I'm Maka Albarn."** The brunette known as Maka said with a bow.

 **"Tsubaki. Pleasure to meet you."** The tall gentle ravenette added, again with a bow.

 **"YA-Hoo! The name's BlackStar, don't forget it cause I'm the biggest star around so count yourself lucky that you have me for a friend."** The confident (read: arrogant) musclehead stated with a thumb to his chest and a head held high.

 **"Soul Eater. Cool to meet you."** The two shook hands before Dimitri took a step back and bowed to them all. _'Maybe this time I can try having friends. This is going to be an interesting life.'_

 **"Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu."**

* * *

 **End Chapter 1**

 **A/N:** That's the end of this chapter! so yeah i'm gonna work on this fic and my other one as long and as hard as i can in conjunction with my other fic and.. well, my job. but hey, i promise to try and keep it regular and exciting. Thanks for reading!


	2. Extra Lessons, Dimitri Fights?

Welcome all to episode 2 of Unsound Soul, or the Continuing Adventures of Dim.

As always with my fics **Soul Eater is property of Okubo and all creators for the anime and or manga, all rights reserved. I only own Dimitri.**

 **A** _ **Sound Soul**_ **dwells within a** _ **sOUND mIND**_ **and a** _ **Sound Body.**_

* * *

In the dead of night, in a church full of stained glass and tolling bells a window shatters. Through the pale moonlit mosaic of falling colored glass shards fall two figures, a tall thick man in priestly garb and a beard adorned in a cross hanging from his chin, as well as a young girl in a black overcoat wielding a scythe.

 _ **"Evil Monk Rasputin,"**_ proclaims the scythe _**"You're mine. I'm gonna eat your soul!"**_

 **"You may try, but your efforts will be wasted. Not even bullets can hurt me."** The priest retorts, only to be cleaved in two without effort. Scythe Meister Maka lets Soul Eater revert to his human form, watching as her weapon partner greedily gulps in the kishin egg soul that was Rasputin. Soul loved the taste of souls, it was never the flavor but the feeling as it went down, as he described it.

Meanwhile, across the world back at the DWMA was a single young man watching the sun set from the top step of the stairs at the entrance. The normally laughing sun was almost asleep and fighting so hard to hang in the air for a few more seconds. Finally the night set in as every student walked past to go home for the night and study, or make dinner or clean the dorm. Honestly, such trivial things never made sense to Dimitri. Having a place to stay just sounded like too much effort. There was rent to pay, food, cleaning dishes, doing laundry, paying for all the utilities.. Oh. Right. Lizzie Borden took his last cigarette. Heaving a sigh, the young man resigned to look up at the stars and plan his next move carefully.

The sun had risen and a few early students had made it to campus ahead of the bell. A few stopped to question what he was doing, or if he was asleep. Had he stayed there all night? He had, but that wasn't their concern. As long as he had his backpack and the shade of the siderail he could stay here until the sun glinted off his sunglasses and woke him up. Or at least, he would if Maka and Soul hadn't shown up.

 **"Mmm? Hey Soul, isn't that the new kid we just met?"** Maka pointed out the bespectacled weapon, who looked as though he had either gotten up early and fell asleep or never left in the first place. Soul ventured over to see what his deal was, this kid had headphones on and sunglasses even though the light was just cracking over the horizon. He hated when Maka woke him up early, but this particular morning was unusually rough. Not only did Maka wake him hup before the usual hour, but their newest roommate Blair the cat had practically smothered him under Mammary Mountain. To make matters worse, Maka wasn't in the mood to hear his excuses and chose defenestration as a means of punishment. Soul was in a very uncool mood, and everything seemed to piss him off because of it. Including this kid trying to be cool so early in the damn day. He wanted to take those shades and-

 **"Touch my glasses and I'll eat your soul."** Soul withdrew, a little creeped out. Was he awake the whole time? No, it must have been something else. The newbie got up and dusted himself off, grabbing his backpack all the while. Seriously, everything about this kid was loose and hanging off of him. He looked like someone who started at the right size and slowly reverted to a smaller figure, or perhaps a wax figurine that melted at the clothes but never made it to the top. **"Morning Soul, Maka. How are you today?"** A few stiff movements and he popped his neck and knuckles. Still nobody had seen his hands, it was a bit unnerving.

 **"Good morning Dimitri. You must have gotten up early to make it all the way up here and fall asleep again."** Maka pointed out.

 **"Actually I never left after yesterday. Why go all the way into town then climb back up the stairs again the next day? The concrete and cobble are the same pattern here as they are there. And please, call me Dim"** Dimitri replied. The fact that he slept up here made no difference to him, in fact it was the same in the city he came from. He knew which rooftops were the most comfortable or had the best view of the sky. It was so different out here. The people were kinder, the air was clearer, and the night sky was...

 **"Dim? The hell kinda nickname is that? Is it because you're stupid or something?"** Soul still wanted to size this guy up, get a feel for him. He was so focused on trying to read this guy he missed the book Maka brought down on his head like a guillotine.

 **"Actually, it's just short for Dimitri. Though some people see my name Dimitri Makovic and they try to abbreviate it as Dim Mak."**

 **"** **'Death Touch' huh? Kind of a bold name, but that's cool. So why don't you just get a place to live in town instead of sleeping here?"** As Soul started probing, more people started showing up, filtering around the three of them. Dim stood there for a moment contemplating how best to sum up his answer.

 **"..too much hassle. My bookbag is paid for and makes a big enough pillow. My jacket is large enough to keep me mostly warm where I go. I eat when I'm hungry and there are plenty of bathrooms I don't need one all to myself. The whole thing is just a convenient inconvenience without someone to share the trouble with it's kinda pointless unless the person you share it with really cares it's just more responsibility to have a roof over your head.."**

Eventually Maka raised her hand, which puzzled the both of them. When she had full attention she simply exhaled relief. **"Why don't you just come stay with us? There's already two of us so one more is no big deal. Just help out with rent or something and we'll call it good, okay?"** She smiled, causing Soul to smirk. Maka knew what she was doing, so he would go with it. It was all cool.

 **"...Thank you. I'll be glad to live with you. Come, I think we should get to class."**

The bell chimed as they walked in, Dim sitting in the back right corner surprised the weapon/meister pair. In fact, everyone noticed the new arrival but waited for the teacher to show up to learn more. Soul and Maka were discussing a rumor that had been floating around the academy, which seemed to be on everyone's mind that day. The door was flung wide open and a tall man in a black suit and blood red hair strolled in.

 **"Alright quiet down and listen up. I'm not gonna bother taking attendance and anyone who thinks the bell dismisses class, you're wrong I decide when it's over."** The tall man beamed into the awed crowd, specifically at..

 **"Oh. That must be Maka's father or something."** Dim glanced back and forth seeing the resemblance between the man in a suit and tie and the green eyed young woman who offered her home to him. There was some family dysfunction that he could see. _'I can relate Maka..'_ Soul made some snide comment and the professor remarked something along the lines of being called "Professor Death Scythe." **"Death Scythe huh?"** Again there was some banter that went unheard from where Dim sat but then the teacher marked his attendance paper and looked up into the sea of faces. **"Oh yea that reminds me, Maka, Soul, and new kid Marka-Moka-Mako.. Dimitri. Lord Death wants to see you in his office. Go on, shoo."**

As the three walked, they could only guess amongst themselves why they three would be called in. Maka was a straight A student, Soul was borderline delinquent, and Dim was new blood. There was no pattern..

Arriving at the Death Room as it was labeled, the newest of them held the door open and hung back. Walking under the rows of guillotines was at first a bit disturbing, since any of them looked precarious enough to fall at a moment's notice. What the three failed to notice was the assassin waiting for them on top of one of the pillars.

 **"So they think they can show their backs to me, huh? I can take all three of them out right here and become an even bigger man than before."** The would be assassin known as BlackStar stood and held his kusarigama out wide on either side of him. **"Assassin's rule number 1: Dissolve in the darkness and erase your breath! Wait for an opening to attack!"**

 **"Oh look, it's BlackStar."** The three students looked up at where the blue haired goofball was standing, and where a disappointed Tsubaki emerged from her weapon form. **"Why are you standing up there yelling like an idiot?"**

 _'Definitely not going to make it.'_ Dim assured himself. Watching as the two descended BlackStar made his way up to the raven and just glared. Dim didn't even look phased, just curious.

 **"So you think you can wear your glasses inside cause you're a bigger guy than me? What are you hiding anyway?"** The assassin lunged forward trying to claw at his shades. Dim merely backstepped, raised his sleeve covered hand and lazily redirected him to his left. BlackStar attempted again, met with the same result on the other side. **"Come on! Quit hiding your stupid face!"** This was getting both comical and a bit annoying, they had made it halfway to the podium already before Dim finally arced his arm high up and brought BlackStar's arm to the floor. His other hand pushed on the back of his head and he swam past to face the others who were catching up.

 **"It's considered polite to ask before taking, but since you all insist, I can show you this once."** Parting his shaggy hair to the sides so his brows were visible, Dimitri took off his sunglasses. His skin was very pale as was the rest of his face, but under his eyes were bags, dark circles probably from months if not years of erratic sleep. The other thing that everyone noticed was that his eyes were closed the entire time. After a moment of silence, he readjusted his shades and slipped them back on his face. **"Now you've seen my face, kindly stop asking."**

 **"Yeah but what the hell why didn't you open your eyes?"**

 **"BlackStar!"** Tsubaki grimaced and went to bow, but Dim just waved it off. It obviously wasn't the first time this had happened. Tsubaki just let it go, after all, she knew the value of pasts left unsaid.

 **"Hey, we should all go see Lord Death now, he's probably been waiting."** Maka suggested, equal parts nervous about being late for Lord Death and wanting the tense silence to be put to rest.

 **"So what are you two doing here? Come to see Lord Death too?"** Soul asked of the others. BlackStar kind of pouted but just rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't know why they were called here either. The five of them found his mirror and Maka took a deep breath, steaming it up. **"Shini-shini-Gorokushi when you wanna knock on Death's door."** The mirror rang a few times, then started to glow.

 **"Heya! How's it going good to see ya good ta see ya! Thanks for coming."** The visage of Death in the mirror greeted them all, looking each one in the eyes.. well, probably. Dim still had his face half covered and Death didn't have any visible eyes behind that mask of his.

 **"Scythe meister Maka reporting in with Soul Eater. We also brought the new kid Dimitri sir!"**

 **"Dark Arm meister BlackStar and Tsubaki as well."**

 **"Well, what did you want with us?"** Soul interjected.

 **"I have a special assignment for the five of you."**

 _ **"Special Assignment?"**_ they all asked in unison. Lord Death went a little flat and tried as delicately as he could to phrase his next words nicely.

 **"Some.. extra lessons."** At his words, Maka started freaking out putting two and two together. Tsubaki wasn't far behind, Soul started pouting and BlackStar was oblivious.

 **"W-wait.. those special classes stupid people take? THOSE lessons? Why me?"** Maka looked as though someone had taken all of her books, the look of incredulity and denial.

 **"Tsssh.. Screw that a cool guy like me doesn't take classes like that. I'm gonna be a freaking Death Scythe."**

Lord Death thought for a moment how to get his point across, then he straightened up. **"Do you recall your duties as meisters and weapons?"**

 **"Yes, as meisters it's our duties to feed our weapons the souls of people who have become kishin eggs and prevent the world from falling into darkness. As meisters it is our job to collect 99 kishin egg souls and 1 witch's soul and turn our weapons into your personal instruments, a Death Scythe,"** Maka concluded as though she were reading it from a dictionary.

 **"That is correct. But do you know exactly how many souls the five of you have actually collected thus far?"** He paused to let them look around at each other. Dim was standing in the middle behind the other four, watching them try to tally up apparently. However, Lord Death held up two his fingers on one hand. **"Exactly 2."** Maka looked over at BlackStar but he just shrugged back at her. It wasn't either of them, so that just meant.. As all four turned to face the newbie he looked a bit bored, watching the clouds float lazily on the wall.

 _'This guy has more souls than we do?!'_ they all thought in unison. On his own, a weapon had collected two souls and he wasn't even in the academy at the time. Maka felt depressed that she had even fallen behind a new guy, Soul was both a tad jealous and mortified at the memory of his last mission where he ate the soul not of a witch, but a cat. Tsubaki didn't even bat an eye, of course they were behind on soul collecting since BlackStar thought of the battlefield more as a stage.

BlackStar, to everyone's surprise, began laughing hysterically. His fit of laughter was quickly cut off by a good solid Reaper Chop to the top of his head. **"This isn't something to laugh about Chuckles! Anyway, on to your assignment. I'm sure you've already heard the rumors, yes? About Sid, who used to teach here until recently."** Dim recalled the gentle teacher in the basketball getup who offered his help on his very first day at the academy. So, that's the teacher who became a zombie? Suddenly he knew why everyone was whispering. He shows up and then a teacher dies the next day, can't just be a coincidence. **"When he was alive Sid was an excellent teacher and a good man. But, when he became a zombie something inside him changed. Now he feels free from the fear of death, and wants others to have the same freedom he does. He's trying to train students to free themselves, but when they don't listen he attacks. On top of that, we still have yet to find out who it was that turned Sid into a zombie."** At that, everyone turned suspiciously toward Dim, who just shrugged. **"Hey, wasn't me I actually liked the guy."**

 **"Anyway,"** Lord Death continued **"We still have to find this person and learn what their motivation was."**

 **"Okay, you can leave it all to me! All we gotta do is collect their souls and we'll be done right?"** BlackStar stated with conviction.

 **"Yup! Now I don't want to put any extra pressure on you, but if you fail this assignment I'll have no choice but to expell you all."**

 _ **"You're gonna kick us out?!"**_

Hours later in the dead of night all five of them found themselves in Hook Cemetery, looking for, at, and around Sid's grave for any sign of life.. er, undeath. Maka was depressedly holding a tree, Soul was screaming at the sky, BlackStar was getting ready to piss on Sid's grave, and Tsubaki and Dim were just looking for clues. An hour had passed, and things were looking bleak. Maka sunk further into unease, Soul was now furious and BlackStar was right along side him swearing and challenging the zombie to come fight him like a man. Dim could swear he heard something move in the dark, when suddenly a hand from under the ground grasped Maka's ankle. Everyone turned to see Sid holding her upside down face to face with a pointed stick ready to stab into her.

 **"Are you scared, Girl?"** The zombie asked. **"I think you are. Let's fix that."** From the back where the headstone was Soul lept and flew into the air shifting into weapon form and sticking in the ground between the two. As he was surrounded, he dropped his primitive weapon and walked over to his own headstone. **"Maka, Soul, BlackStar, Tsubaki, Dimitri. Good morning, Good afternoon. Good night."** With a grunt he pulled up the enormous slab from the ground and held it over his shoulder as simple as a duffle bag. **"How are you and all that. I always tried to remember my manners, that's just the kind of guy I was."**

 **"Tsubaki, Let's get ready to end this guy."** Blackstar raised his hands to catch the twin kusarigama that was his weapon. Dim remained in human form, watching carefully for any openings that either one of the teams could offer him to exploit. And so, it began.

 **"Tell me Sid, why are you doing this?"** Maka asked, flourishing Soul with a spin to get the dirt off his blade.

 _ **"Ding, Dong, Dong, Ding..**_ **being a zombie's amazing. I can get away with so much more now that Death doesn't loom over me anymore. You should try it. Class is in session. I always was the kind of teacher to start a lesson at the bell. Being punctual is important after all."**

 **"This'll be fun, I'll get to teach you something and smash your head in. Since it's coming from me, you know it'll be a big lesson."** BlackStar noted.

 **"Remember BlackStar we have to find out who did this too, he's no good to us dead."** Dim pointed out. He raised his right hand straight ahead palm out and brought his left hand back by his side, ready to strike.

 **"We don't wanna be expelled, so we'll take your lesson,"** Soul added. **"But I gotta say I don't know what we'll learn from a decaying piece of flesh like you."**

 **"When you're a zombie, Death doesn't scare you. You'll understand when you're DEAD!"** Sid made the first move, jumping at Maka with his headstone ready to swing like a pendulum. Before he could gain momentum, BlackStar launched Tsubaki and caught the stone, jamming him up. Dim took this chance to rush in and go for a leg sweep. Sid however anticipated the blindside attack and avoided it by jumping over his leg, using his own foot to push the weapon away and send him over a headstone. **"I never was the kind of man,"** using the same momentum Sid pulled BlackStar in and swung his headstone to catch him in the back instead of the other way around. **"..to hold back!"** The two teams plus solo weapon regrouped side by side. **"I would just give up if I were you. You one star meisters don't stand a chance."**

 **"Hey Sid,"** Soul replied. **"You keep swinging your tombstone around you might accidentally bash your fat head and die again."**

 **"** _ **Ding Dong Dong Ding...**_ **Oh yeah I forgot, when these lessons are over, you're all gonna die."** Sid raised his tombstone again menacingly.

 **"Looks like I'll be skipping class then."** Maka quipped. She raised Soul for emphasis, and to match Sid's intimidating move with her own to show how not scared she was. **"Think I'll go home and take a nice hot bubble bath."**

 _Meanwhile, Back in Soul and Maka's apartment in Death City_

 **"Nyaaaa~ this is so boooring..."** Blair was scrubbing up in the bathtub, unsure or uninterested in anything to do while the two she stayed with were away. **"I bet Maka and Soul are having lots of fun, making tons of new friends.."** The naked kitty sunk into the warm bubbles and poked her head out of the water with her kitty ears drooping slightly. **"Maybe I should take some classes or something.."** Her honey colored eyes examined the rubber ducky floating away from her as if it had answers.

 _Back at Hook Cemetery_

Maka runs in and swings Soul overhead to try and get Sid from above, only to be blocked by the headstone as Sid pushes them back and away. **"What's wrong? Why aren't you working together? Meister and Weapon need to fight together as one single unit. You have to establish a connection between the souls of weapon and meister before attacking."**

 **"Giving advice to the enemy?"** BlackStar called out. So much for a surprise attack from the air, Sid matched his high powered flying kick with his own grand slam from his tombstone. **"I was always an enthusiastic educator. That's just the man I was. And now I'll teach you how to die."** Being caught off guard, BlackStar looked up to see the zombie overhead ready for a finisher. **"Unliving!"** A burst of violet light in the shape of a cross has the Assassination team in a crater and the zombie standing over them. Dim comes up from behind and wraps his sleeves around Sid's neck, whipping backwards for a suplex. However, the former 3 star meister was ready for that and plants his hand, reversing the move to send the weapon flying. Maka avoids him coming at her as he digs his fingers into another stone and turns to face him again.

 _ **"Ding Dong Dong Ding.**_ **Looks like class is over, ready to die yet?"** Sid leered at Maka, waiting for her to come to him. From behind the zombie a groan could be heard as BlackStar and Tsubaki righted themselves out of the crater. **"My head is killing me. Damn zombie, your preaching is giving me a migraine. Who's gonna listen to a rotting corpse like you as long as theres a big star like me around!"** The assassin jumped, sending one of the kusarigama into the ground and ricocheting past the zombie, then again with the other. Sid couldn't dodge to either side as BlackStar's foot planted square in his solar plexus, stunning him. The next surprise came when Dim caught the chains and sent Tsubaki in an arc that would take Sid's head clean off. That is, if Sid hadn't leaned back to avoid it, while kicking the youngster back. This kid definitely was more of a threat at close range unless he changed to weapon mode.

 _In the Death Room at DWMA_

Lord Death was watching the fight the whole time, noting strengths and weaknesses. Indeed this fight had been very valuable in determining the fighting styles of each of them. Not only that, but for a weapon this new kid seemed to have skills at handling one of his own. That thought however would have to wait, as there were three individuals behind him just arriving for a visit. **"Good ta see ya Kiddo!"**

 _Back at Hook Cemetery_

 **"Tsubaki, Shuriken mode!"** Tsubaki did as BlackStar asked, becoming a 5 pointed shuriken. As she got thrown she spun more rapidly as she got closer trying to take him out as she swerved and kept him on edge. **"You can't run away!"** Sid merely jumped on top of the projectile and used it to flip and twist higher, gaining more speed for his next attack on Maka. **"Unliving!"** Again the violet light as the tombstone bashed the ground, causing Sid to grin until he saw that Maka had actually dodged by such a narrow margin, then flung her feet down to plant and step over his face. With a deft turn she brandished Soul and prepared for the final cut. **"Maka.. Let's do what he said. See if you can match my soul wavelength."** From within the scythe Soul was watching, ready to try it. Soul Resonance.

 **"Are you sure? It's never worked out for us in the past.."**

 **"Hey, we can do this."**

Maka whirled Soul over her head and struck a powerful pose. _**"Let's go, Soul Resonance! HaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**_ Soul began to glow, as did Maka. The Energy coming from them grew and grew, as Maka drew Soul back his blade grew more curved and took on the shape of a crescent moon. **"The legendary superskill of the scythemeister."** She began a massively powerful underhand swing **"Witch Hunter!"** The attack dug into the ground, but Maka's feet slipped and she stumbled. BlackStar narrowly avoided it, and Dim just barely got out of the way without losing a few hairs from his face.

 _'What is that attack?'_ The magic blade continued on beyond the graveyard, while BlackStar yelled at Maka, who blamed Soul, who in turn pointed out that it was Maka who tripped.. Even Sid was perplexed by the power she had just displayed. After the shock wore off for everyone, Maka ran in for a normal attack, still berating Soul for trying the superskill instead of just taking the easy way out. Wide swing and... He wasn't there. Sid had burrowed underground, leaving the three in human form to look around for him.

Sid popped up behind Maka, ready again with his pointed stick. However, BlackStar deflected and Dim kicked him in the ribs. When Sid got his footing again he burrowed underground once again.

BlackStar and Tsubaki exchanged a knowing look. **"What Sid's doing now is the first assassin's rule. Dissolve into the darkness, erase your breath. Wait for an opening to attack your target."** Tsubaki then began to snake her way around the graveyard, between Dim and Maka, both of whom looked amazedly at BlackStar when his breathing stopped. Things were tense, everything was quiet. Too quiet.. Nobody was moving.. The

Sid popped up out of the dirt to attack Dim this time, ready to take him out. The young man was unprepared and started to glow before Tsubaki's trap activated and the chains tightened. **"Trap Star: Activate!"** Dim got out of there, leaving Maka tied to Sid with Soul stuck in the chain. **"BlackStar what the hell? Why did you chain us up as well?"** BlackStar just laughed, highfiving the newbie for getting out of the trap so quickly.

 **"Not bad rookie, I guess you're cool, as long as you don't think you're a super big man like me."** BlackStar smirked, and Dim was as stoic as ever, though the corners of his mouth turned slightly upward.

 **"Nah, stage is all yours."**

* * *

End of Chapter 2

 **A/N:** Quick note about our hero, I actually developed him out of a single idea: this jacket of mine that i'm wearing as i type these words. It's actually exactly the same as Dim's, two sizes too large, overly baggy at the bottom, and the wrists hang over my hands. It also has black stripes that look faded so it has a very prisoner-meets-straightjacket vibe that i felt would be perfect for a weapon like him. Also, we still have yet to see what kind of weapon he is but based on his attire and a few scattered hints I hope you all can figure it out. Anyone who does gets to sit on BlackStar as he does 100 one handed pushups!

Peace!


	3. Shape of the Soul, Dim's True Form?

Hey again. Dim here, thank you for reading this. I'm not so good with words so I'll let author announcer guy take over. Hey can someone send me some ciga-

Thank you, Dim. *shoots the youth a dirty look* First off, Happy Halloween to everyone. Eating candy and scaring the crap out of people is fun. (Dim: you mean gorging yourself on Milky Ways and Jelly beans like every year?) *another dirty look* yes thank you Dim. Anyway, it's time. we're gonna get to see some real fighting from our main characters, and finally learn what kind of weapon Dim is! (Dim: That's easy, I'm a-) MOVING ON!

 **A** _ **Sound Soul**_ **dwells within a** _ **sound MIND**_ **and a** _ **Sound Body**_

Hook Cemetery, left in tatters, saw Tsubaki leading Sid out like a dog on a leash, led by Maka Soul and BlackStar with Dimitri keeping an eye on the zombie from behind. The newest DWMA student walked up to the teacher and looked him right in the face. **"So just to be clear it wasn't me who made you a zombie right? I showed up the day before you vanished and frankly everyone thinks I did it."**

 **"No no it wasn't you, Dimitri. Although I still disapprove of that habit of smoking you have."** Sid seemed to blanch at the faint smell of smoke coming from his jacket. Dimitri hadn't smoked in nearly a week, but the scent remained.

 **"I haven't had a smoke in a while, Sid. I appreciate the concern though. I'm a weapon, I should be able to live my life as I see fit, since any fight with a kishin egg or a witch could be my last. Wouldn't you agree?** "

 **"I'd be careful, there's a line between living to the fullest and being reckless. I wouldn't cross that line if I were alive, that's not the man I was."** In the distance was a home with trees whose branches pointed every which way. **"That's the place. The man who did this to me, Doctor Franken Stein, lives in that house."** The zombie tilted his chin in the direction of the home. Upon getting closer, the students found that the trees were actually cut off at the limbs and had blackened arrows sewn on with zigzag stitches. The entire property looked abandoned, as well as having cracks and zigzag stitches haphazardly covering the arches and walls.

BlackStar turned to address Dim, causing him to nearly bump into Soul. **"That was a pretty sweet move you did back there when we tag teamed on Zombie Head here. Where did you learn to fight like that?"**

 **"I lived on the streets before coming to the academy, eventually I got tired of being mugged and staying up all night watching my surroundings. I guess as a weapon fighting came natural to me."**

 **"Yeah but I have a question, how did you grab Tsubaki and use her like a meister would?"** Maka tilted her head and walked backward to join the conversation. They were getting closer, only a few meters from the front gate. **"That seems a little unusual, especially since you didn't know if your soul wavelengths were compatible..."**

 **"True, but I actually did know. My soul wavelength is pretty flexible so I read Tsubaki's soul when I first met her and tried to match it accordingly."**

 _ **"You mean you can see living souls?!"**_ Even Sid was confused and slightly impressed. For a meister to be able to read souls was a rare gift, so for a weapon to have the same powers that would open worlds of possibilities. Or be misused as a dangerous weapon.

 **"But wait, you don't ever open your damn eyes so how does that work?!"** BlackStar pointed accusingly, as if Dim had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Soul recalled the Death Room incident as well and joined in. **"Hey, Yeah! I call bullcrap!"**

Dim just shrugged. **"You assume because I didn't open my eyes for you that they stay closed. Just as you assume I don't blink, or the way Maka assumed I got up early on my first day."**

Before the conversation could get any further, everyone stopped in the courtyard that sat before the front door. Everyone shivered as the wind kicked up, and Maka stared intently at the building. **"He's here."** Everything was quiet, eyes scanning over the place to make sure there weren't any surprises. Soul noted the stitching motif, BlackStar crossed his arms and tilted his head at the height of the building. Maka kept her gaze fixed on something inside, which seemed to move ever so slightly if the nervous twitch in her eyebrow was anything to go by. Tsubaki's hair clanked at the point that became chains binding Sid. Dim knelt down, resting on the balls of his feet and draping his arms over his bent knees.

 **Back at the Death Room, DWMA**

 **"So who is it that turned Sid into a Zombie? You know, don't you?"** The young man in a suit asked. He stared at Lord Death's back as he watched the students reach their destination.

 **"You're familiar with my current weapon, Death Scythe? You should also at least have heard of the meister who trained him."** Lord Death regarded the youth, turning away from the mirror as the image vanished.

 **"It was Maka's mother, wasn't it?"** The two women standing to the side of the chair eagerly listened.

 **"Actually that's not quite right. Before Maka's mother, Death Scythe had another partner. His name is Doctor Franken Stein, and he's undoubtedly the most talented meister ever to graduate from the academy. This fight won't be easy for any of them."**

 **Back at Stein's Laboratory**

The door to the lab had creaked openon its rusted hinges. A single light over the dimly lit entryway flickered. Everyone watched as the sound of someone -or some _thing_ \- approached. It was a long drawn out sound, like something being dragged, and the length of it set everyone on edge. The sound grew louder and louder, eventually a hunched figure appeared in the door...

And fell over backwards.

 **"Agh. Dammit, still doesn't feel quite right. hmm.."** The tall lanky man in a labcoat reached up to adjust a large screw in the side of his head as he sat in his caster chair. After a few groans and a soft click, he stood and dragged his chair back inside. **"Okay, let's see if that did it. I'm gonna try that again."**

 **"Shouldn't we stop him?"** Soul asked

 **"We just met him, wouldn't that be rude?"** Maka chimed in.

 **"But we** _ **are**_ **here to take his soul.."** Dim pointed out.

 **"I'd like to see what happens next"** BlackStar replied.

 **"Yeah so would I"** Tsubaki added.

Again the dragging sound of wheels skidding across the floor came, this time faster than the last. The man in the chair all but appeared, only to catch his wheel on the door again and be sent flying onto his back. The group looked at each other in disbelief, _'Is this guy for real?'_

From the ground the doctor groaned and looked up at the students. **"Was there something you kids needed me for?"**

Dim eyed the cigarette hanging from his lip, relief from his cravings mere feet from him. Soul spoke up, assessing the man before them. **"Yeah, if you're really Dr. Stein."**

 **"You did this,"** Maka shouted. **"You turned Sid into a zombie."**

 **"I see, so that's why you're here. I'm guessing you're all from the DWMA."**

 **"Why would you do this? Revenge? A grudge?"**

 **"No, nothing like that. I have a much simpler motive: Experimentation and observation. That's all a scientist really needs, and I am a scientist. Everything in the world is a test subject, myself included."** The five students looked closely at the man. His face was stitched behind his large glasses, and the bolt in his head must have been another of his self experiments. There was something very off about this man, but what it was nobody could put their finger on it. Maka shifted uncomfortably, and BlackStar looked over at the wall, walking toward it while everyone was distracted.

 **"Hey Soul, do you feel that? Something strange is going on."** The meister whispered to her weapon.

 **"Your souls' wavelengths aren't very stable, or for that matter compatible. In fact they're quite different from one another. I see one that's careless and arrogant and another that is earnest and strong willed. They seem to be in resonance but they're not."** Stein concluded. Dim fought the urge to shiver, so this guy could read souls too. not only that, he came to the same conclusion but Stein was able to read them faster and even judge the rate of harmony between them. Maka's soul, orange with pigtails looked fierce and even angry, bobbing up and down lightly. Soul's on the other hand was light blue and grinned smugly, looking as thought it held it's chin up.

 **"You mean this guy can see souls of people who are still alive? I guess that makes you a meister. Hey Maka, you can do that too right?"** Soul assessed Stein, remaining wary of his opponent. Maka smiled uncomfortably. **"Oh, yeah.. of course I can."**

Dim stepped back, catching Stein's attention. **"Well now, this is a peculiar soul. You're cool and calculating but not exactly stable are you? Passive-aggressive I think fits you well. What's more you seem withdrawn in yourself."** Stein's eyes witnessed a dark green soul that had an impassive look on it's face, spinning in place as if to watch it's own back. **"If I had to guess, you're a weapon."** Dim scuffed his foot across the ground, his discomfort growing to agitation.

 **"Shut up Little Doctor Man, nobody wants to hear you talk anymore! Yahoo! How about we change the subject to a more interesting topic, like me for example. As far as I'm concerned the only soul worth looking at around here is mine"** BlackStar proclaimed from the roof of the laboratory, leaping down to challenge the mad doctor. Stein merely laughed at his antics.

 **"Yours is an interesting soul indeed. Reckless, self centered and more than a little wild, it must be rather difficult to find a partner compatible with a soul like that one."** Stein could see a blue soul positively beaming at itself as it bounced around like a rubber ball. **"No more talking.."** BlackStar decided then to charge in with a leaping kick. Stein merely blocked with his arm and used the rotation of the chair to bring him around for a second defensive maneuver against another kick, then once again as he rolled up to BlackStar with a deft left hook. The assassin was sent to his back a good distance away. **"BlackStar!"** Tsubaki called out, concerned.

 **"Hmm? Ah yes I see it now. You must be the wild one's partner. You're always willing to compromise and possess a very accepting nature. It makes sense you're willing to cooperate with a partner like yours."** Tsubaki's soul was a gentle yellow, floating delicately with a serene look of humility. **"Now that I have the necessary data, I can begin the experiment."**

 **At Chupacabra's, Death City**

Blair had been working at the bar as a companion for a few days now. Guys like Death Scythe had come and gone, but Blair didn't have it in her to just be eye candy, no matter how much it earned her. Every day was more of the same, and the cat-woman had had enough of it fast. Death Scythe was on another drunken rant about how much he loved Maka and the pain he was going through. It made her feel guilty but Blair knew she was meant for more than this. She decided that she would go to DWMA and see if her special skills could be of any use. After all, she wasn't _really_ a witch, so they wouldn't hurt her, right?

 **Back at Stein's Lab**

Maka and Soul were already pitted against the good doctor Stein, as was BlackStar. Tsubaki and Dim hung back, keeping Sid wrapped up. Maka swung Soul trying frantically to hit Stein, but at every swing was dodged and then kicked away. **"You must be Scythe meister Maka."** Stein carelessly smacked the back of his head into BlackStar's face. **"OW my FACE!"** As the would be assassin groaned and rolled on the ground, Stein twisted his bolt again, trying to focus on where he heard Maka's name before. **"Ah! Of course, your mother was a meister and you're Spirit's little daughter aren't you?"**

 _ **"Who's Spirit?"**_ Soul asked in weapon form. Maka put on a face like she just ate a lemon, rind included. **"That's what my father was called before he became a Death Scythe. I want to know how you knew him."**

 **"I can remember it now, he looked so peaceful in his sleep..."** Stein reminisced, recalling his many experiments on Spirit Albarn. Everyone else gave the mad scientist a deadpan look, seriously creeped out. After a few quiet moments he snapped out of it and stared right at Maka **"So you really are Spirit's darling daughter. I wonder what kind of test subject you'd make."**

Dim leaned over to Tsubaki. **"BlackStar's going to need some help, I can keep Sid wrapped up while you two fight Stein."** His arm raised, ready to wrap his sleeve around Sid's neck. However, Tsubaki shook her head. **"There's too much risk. If Sid gets away and Stein beats us, we'll be kicked out. You'll have to fight with BlackStar. I know you can do it."** Dim nodded, running over to BlackStar while Stein moved in on Maka and Soul. He was drawing back like a normal punch, so Maka raised Soul in a guard, only for Stein to twist the heel of his palm and send a blast of soul wavelength through them both. This caught everyone's attention, especially when he got off of his chair to attack in normal hand-to-hand combat. Maka was already on edge, unsure of herself and what to do so she ran in to attack. _**"Wait, Maka!"**_ Soul tried to stop her but she gave a battle cry and prepared to swing. Stein raised his hand but suddenly his arm was jerked back at the last second by.. chains? He raised his right hand instead and sent his soul waves through Soul and Maka again, repelling them back. _**"That was a dumb move!"**_

Stein raised his left arm to inspect what had happened. A small lead ball on a chain had tugged at his elbow, nearly giving the scythemeister an opening. following where the chain led revealed that it came from Dimitri's left sleeve, partially transformed from the bicep down. **"I can't let you hurt my friends."**

 **"A mace?"** Tsubaki thought to herself. She recalled how Dim had used her in the graveyard, a chained weapon knowing the length and arc of an attack.

 **"BlackStar, Tsubaki has Sid under control, so you'll have to make due with me for now. Think you can do it?"** The rest of Dim started to glow, and he retracted the weighted ball from Stein before that kind of attack could be used on him.

 **"As long as you know that I'm the big star, I think we can beat this guy. Let's see what you've got, New Kid."** BlackStar held out his hand, and Dim backflipped with a flash of light. Falling into BlackStar's hands, was a length of thin chain, on one end was the same heavy weight from before. In his dominant hand, the length of chain dangled two feet and ended in a five inch slightly curved blade, sharpened perfectly to cut from both forehand and backhand swings.

 **"That's his weapon form?"** Maka asked.

 _ **"That's.."**_

 **"Kyoketsu-Shoge"** Tsubaki recognized this weapon. Effective, and known among ninja clans. Effective at mid- to long-range, and versatile not unlike her kusarigama. So that's how he knew how to handle that fight.

 _ **"BlackStar, this is our first fight together, and my first fight fully transformed. Let's be smart about this.."**_ Dim, inside his weapon, was shadowed. His jacket and glasses were gone, he felt so vulnerable. Were it not for the fact that his bangs were hiding his face he would feel completely bare and helpless. But now wasn't the time for that. His new friends needed him now, and if this was his first fight then he would make a lasting impression.

BlackStar spun the bladed end by his side, gathering momentum before running in at Stein. The Doctor caught the weapon just in time, right at the base of the knife. BlackStar tugged himself in, using his own forward motion to catapult the weight toward Stein's face. Again, the Doctor was ready, leaving BlackStar open for a kick to get him off balance. He dropped both sides of Dim and sent a similar attack through BlackStar, interrupted by Maka taking a swing at him from behind and narrowly missing. BlackStar stood up and shouted, **"You're not the only one who can use his Soul to attack directly. BlackStar Big Wave!"** BlackStar's fist and elbow connected, bursting into Stein's back and through his whole body. However, Stein seemed entirely unaffected. **"A surprise from the Wild Boy. But that attack won't work on me. See, when I took your initial soul data I matched your soul's wavelength so your attack was cancelled out. In that moment, we temporarily bonded, much like a meister and a weapon. Now it's my turn."** He sent his soul waves through BlackStar's head in the form of electricity, finishing with a burst that sent BlackStar tumbling to the ground with blood coming from his mouth, ears and eyes.

 _ **"BlackStar!"**_ Everyone shouted. Dim reverted to his human form, standing behind Stein. **"You, Doctor. That wasn't cool. I just barely got to use my full form and you had to go and drop him like a rock. Let's see how you do against me."** The Dim from before was gone, this was a new level. The weapon cracked his neck, standing between Stein and Maka. He drew his left hand back, stepping in and lowering his right arm. Stein closed the distance, attacking with his soul force only to have the attacks redirected at the last moment. Maka recalled the same thing happening with BlackStar in the Death room, understanding. The moment came, and Dim's sleeve wrapped Stein's wrist, turning him full 540 and sending him at Maka and Soul. However, Stein bodychecked the two of them and righted himself. Dim wasn't surprised, but at the same time he wasn't prepared with a follow up plan. His response: his leg swung out for a kick that turned into wrapping Stein up around the torso. From there he spun on his side, right arm becoming the knife end and jabbing out like a scorpion's stinger. Stein managed to dodge and divert every attack. **"You're quite adept at fighting on your own. But you have no technique, you're merely a thrasher. You lack true fighting experience."** With that, the scientist thrust both fists forward with soul force, connecting both times where the chest meets the shoulders.

 **"You should pay attention old man."** Dim stood perfectly still, arms hanging limply at his sides. **"Your soul isn't the only one that can adapt to survive. Though I appreciate the shoulder massage."** In truth, he had managed only to match Stein's wavelength 80 percent, enough to avoid any serious damage. **"Still, you took out my arms so I guess I'm pretty much done in this fight. Maka, he's all yours."** Dim looked over, but Maka was stunned and slumped to the floor. Her eyes were wide.

She could see it. She could see his soul. Huge, pale, with a bolt and zigzag stitches on it. The biggest she'd ever seen, and the raw power rolling off of it in waves had her quivering.

 **"Maka what the hell's wrong with you?"** Soul shook her, trying to get her out of whatever funk she was in. Dim tuned the two of them out, staring longingly at the cigarette that Stein had in his mouth. **"...you got another one of those?"** Of course he wouldn't just hand one over. Why would he? They were just locked in combat.

Stein, much to Dim's surprise, handed one over and even lit it for the youth, who couldn't raise his arms. Dim sucked it in and exhaled. **"Aaaaahh.. sweet relief."** Sid just hung his head, disappointed in the two of them. Tsubaki was in shock and had run over to BlackStar the moment he fell. The chains that bound Sid were now gone, but the zombie showed no signs of running away.

Maka and Soul were finishing up whatever argument they had, Maka looking up into Soul's eyes. **"Now look over there and tell me what you see? The Good Doctor Stein's been patiently waiting for you to finish your little temper tantrum, isn't that polite of him. He even shared a smoke with Dim. C'mon. If we die, we die cool."** Soul helped her to her feet, and became her weapon again. _**"Let's try Witch Hunter, we can beat this guy!"**_ Maka nodded and swung Soul over her head

 _ **"Let's go, Soul Resonance! HrrraaaaAAAAAAAGHH!"**_

 _ **"Keep it up, let's push this to our absolute limit!"**_ Soul shouted, pouring more power into the attack. Maka nodded and yelled back, pushing herself more to match Soul. **"So you're putting everything into one attack?"** Stein shouted, observing the two of them harmonizing and building in strength. The scythe glowed and grew, resembling the crescent moon once again. **"The legendary superskill of the scythemeister.."** Maka held Witch Hunter high and gave Soul a heavy underhand swing, ready to cleave Stein in half. _**"Witch Hunter!"**_ Stein stood his ground, ready to catch the attack. Dim, however was unprepared and jumped back, getting the lit end of his cigarette cut off after only a few drags leaving little more than the filter behind **"For fuck's sake!"** Stein caught the blade, even as Maka groaned and put her full bodyweight and every ounce of energy into the swing. His glasses cracked from the collision of pure power. **"You can control** _ **Witch Hunter**_ **as well, I'm impressed. But your skills are still too rough!"** The scientist snapped the attack with his hands, forcing the two of them back with a burst of energy.

Stein approached Maka, a confident smirk on his face. She was done fighting, but somehow despite the backfire of her last attack she was still conscious. Before he could get to her though, Soul reverted to human form and shielded Maka with his own body. **"Back off, I won't let you touch my meister."** Stein just paused for a second, then reached his hand out for Soul. **"In that case, I'll start with you.."**

End Chapter 3!

Ooooh Cliffhangers! well, not really.

So, in case you're not familiar with Dim's weapon form, Kyoketsu-Shoge, go watch Ninja Assassin. (Even if you are, watch it anyway.)

Also, can Dim not get a cigarette? I mean honestly, more than just two puffs... (Dim: that would be nice.)

Till next time! Chapter 3: Read it, or I'll take your soul.


	4. A New Ally, Dim Gets a Partner?

Hello again everyone! I promise I haven't forgotten about this Fanfic. It's just.. for all my enthusiasm I've hit a bit of a wall. Still, not giving up!

Dim: uh huh. could you maybe go for a walk and get me some smokes while you plan out more of your fic?

 **All credit for Soul Eater goes to Okubo-san.**

 **A** _ **Sound Soul**_ **dwells within a** _ **SounD MinD**_ **and a** _ **Sound Body.**_

 **"Hey, did you hear? About those kids who fought over in Hook Cemetery last night?"** one kid said to another. Indeed, Class Crescent Moon was abuzz with the gossip of the five students who went to Hook and weren't seen coming home.

 **"I heard that they found the zombie who was messin' people up, and that they're zombies too now."**

 **"No way! That was just a rumor to scare people, there's no way someone's killing DWMA students without Lord Death investigating."**

The door creaked open to the classroom, illuminating the silhouettes of multiple people. All eyes turned to regard the moaning mass shambling forward.

 **"Aaaaaaaaaah!"** A scream as one of the bodies shuffled forward, followed by a second and a third. Each of them dragged their feet nearer and nearer.

 **"Not so damn loud! Got a screaming freaking headache."** Soul stuck his pinky in his ear and twisted, trying to get the ringing out of his head. Behind him, Maka and Dim slipped past to find their seats. All three of them, as well as BlackStar and Tsubaki, looked worn and ragged. Their outfits were rumpled, their eyes heavy, and overall they seemed dissheveled. Much to everyone's surprise, Dim took a seat between Maka and BlackStar, lay his head down, and hid his face to sleep.

 **"I'm not sure about you all, but after last night I could go for a day off and sleeping in."** Dim glanced over at his friends, still wearing his shades. **"That guy was kinda cool though."**

 **"I'd rather not think about it.."** Maka winced.

 _ **~Flashback, the previous night~**_

 **"In that case, I think I'll start with you..."** Dr Stein reached his hand out for Soul with a sadistic grin plastered on his face. Soul grimmaced and shut his eyes, ready for the worst possible outcome. With a light pat Stein's expression softened and he beamed at the young weapon. **"Congratulations, you pass."**

Soul, Maka, Dim, and Tsubaki all flinched. _**"Huh?"**_

 **"You sacrificed yourself to protect your meister partner, that's all you need to earn a passing grade from me."** Stein just smiled, ignoring the stunned expressions of everyone around him.

 **"Maybe I wasn't clear enough the first time, so I'll say it again.. Huh?"** Soul got inches from his face, trying to understand. Maka on the other hand was on the verge of tears and pouted.

 **"This was all planned out by Lord Death. He asked me for a favor, to help with your remedial lessons. You have excellent teamwork despite your setbacks, and learned to overcome the obstacles. I'm impressed, to say the least."** The doctor stated matter-of-factly.

 **"But if this was just part of a test why did you kill BlackStar?"** Soul pointed to Tsubaki, Dim, and BlackStar, where the latter arose with an annoying groan. **"-think you're so funny don't you?"**

 **"H-He's still alive? But what about Sid the Zombie?"**

Said zombie shrugged his shoulders apologetically. **"Yeah sorry about all this. When I was alive I wasn't the kind of man who would tell a lie but obviously a lot has changed since then."**

 _ **'yeah no kidding.'**_ every student thought at once.

 **"Then what the hell was the point of all this? To see if you can scare us to death?"** Soul was pretty angry at this point, still unaware that he was cradling Maka in his arms. The meister looked scared out of her wits, staring blankly ahead hoping that someone could help make sense of it all. All she could whimper out was **"..seriously?"**

Somehow, somewhere, Dim got the feeling that Lord Death was laughing at them for being so gullible. Stein on the other hand laughed openly and spun in place on his chair. **"It was all just a test but I admit it was a lot of fun scaring you guys senseless. You should have seen your faces."** A few more spins and he was in fits, stopping in place altogether with a clap of his hands. **"Hey everyone I know you must be exhausted so feel free to spend the night in my laboratory."**

 _ **"That's a big fat no!"**_

 **"Oh come on guys,"** Dim looked up at the creepy lab then back at his friends. **"Maybe it'll be fun! One of us could wake up with a second head, or one of our ears missing.."** He was joking of course, but with such a plain face it was hard to tell if he was serious. He turned to the doctor and shrugged, **"I tried."** With a wave to the two grown men the five of them set off for home, worn out and ready to just call it a night.

All the way home the walk seemed to drag on. For Soul and Maka having used Witch Hunter not once but twice, they felt pretty good. Spent most definitely, but overall good. BlackStar kept massaging his temples where Stein had electrocuted him and where the majority of his current headache was coming from. Tsubaki and Dim walked in back, more or less unharmed except that Dim still couldn't lift his arms more than a few inches.

 **"What do you think of them, Stein?"** The zombie turned and asked of the scientist.

 **"They're quite brave, borderline reckless even. And they have much to learn before they're through at the Academy. But all the same, they function as pairs and as a unit. Tell me, that weapon -the one who smokes- he's new isn't he? From what I saw he's been getting by on street fights with no real training at all. What got him into the academy?"** Stein was genuinely curious. Normally, Death doesn't pick kids up off the street on a whim, so there must be something curious about him that would get his attention.

 **"He's been homeless for a couple of years, ever since his abilities developed. He's kept a low profile, so finding him wasn't easy. What's more, he's actually managed to take out a couple kishin egg souls on his own. There's only ever been one other weapon capable of such a feat."** Sid paused there to let him digest the information thus far. **"Lord Death also feels something disquieting lying dormant within him. It can be purged and he can be shaped but the sooner the better."**

 **"I see."** The doctor looked at the boy in retrospect, seeing a lot of himself in him. **"I'll keep an eye on them all. This batch of students despite their flaws seems capable with the right guidance."**

It was well after midnight that BlackStar and Tsubaki got home, going straight to bed as soon as they walked in. Across town, Maka jangled her key to the apartment and unlocked the door. Soul dropped his jacket, tossed his headband on the coat rack, and kicked off his shoes. Maka closed the door after Dim came in and took his shoes off, taking off his jacket as well. When she turned around she found that the pale teen wore no shirt under his jacket, pants hanging loosely on his hip as he made his way to the bathroom. **"Huh.. so you DO have hands. Aww and you paint your fingernails black too."** Maka teased, noting that he was very thin bordering on malnourished. Dim turned to her and smiled kindly **"Thank you for letting me stay in your home."**

Satisfied that she did the right thing giving him a home, she went to her bedroom for her pajamas. Soul was already in bed, or rather on top of the bed sleeping soundly. In the bathroom, Dim opens the door to find a naked kitty-woman draped over the edge of the tub as the water drains away. She looks at him, he looks at her, they stare at each other for a minute unsure of what to say.

 **"Nice boobs. I'm Dimitri, Maka and Soul's classmate and friend. They told me I can stay here."** The young man wandered up and offered a hand to the wet nekomata woman. Blair looked at him incredulously, then smiled and hugged him to her chest.

 **"Nice to meet you, I'm Blair the cat. So you go to school with Maka and Soul? No fair, you guys have lots of fun and go out on adventures. I wish I could go but witches aren't allowed at the school."** Her ears drooped and she pouted. Dim looked confused and appeared to stare at her chest. **"Frisky, are we?"**

 **"Not quite, I was trying to read your soul. But you have more that one, and none of them read like a witch's soul. Are you a magical cat girl?"**

 **"Nya~ you could read my soul so easily? Wow you must be really good. So did you want to take a bath? I'm all done so it's all yours. Hope to see you soon Dimitri, Kitty's gotta get her beauty sleep."**

Dim waves as she creates a poof of smoke and shifts her form into her cat body, striding away to sleep at the foot of Soul's bed. After she's gone, he turns on the hot water and fills the tub, sinking into the bubbling comfort for the first time in a long time. It felt nice, letting his troubles melt away and getting warm fom the outside in for once. The room filled with warm comforting steam and fog, causing Dim to take a deep breath and sink deeper into the bubbles. **"This is really nice. I hope I can repay my new friends somehow."** His sunglasses fog up and he removes them, staring at the ceiling. His head dips under the water for a moment before he comes up to the surface and lets his shaggy hair drip. The mirror fogs up, but he can still see himself in it, assessing himself. He would remember this moment: the first day of the rest of his new life.

 _ **~Next Day, Class Crescent Moon~**_

 **"I had nightmares that Stein used me in his experiments.."** Maka mumbled into her sleeve.

 **"Tsubaki, was Stein a bigger star than me yesterday?"**

 **"..Seriously?"**

 **"I thought you were a star, right up until you got knocked out."** Dim offered.

 **"Hey Maka, who do you think will be our new teacher? You think they found someone to replace Sid? Maybe your dad will be back forever"** Soul said with a bored look on his face. Honestly he was so tired he couldn't care less who was teaching, there was no way he would be attentive today anyway.

Maka cringed and clutched her book tightly, covering her head with it. **"No anyone but him!"**

Before another word was said there was a loud skating sound over the floor and in flew a familiar strange man in a stitched up labcoat, sliding on his back in his caster chair to the center of the lectern. **"Okay class, are we ready to get started? Good, open your books to chapter 4, we've got a lot to cover. I have some dissections planned, should be a lot of fun."**

Maka, Soul, and Tsubaki went pale in horror at the sight of Stein in the teacher's position. **"This is a joke right? It's seriously not funny."**

 **"I think this might actually be the first time I want to see my dad."**

 _ **Same Time, Death Room~**_

Lord Death stared blankly into his mirror, keeping his eyes out all over the world for any signs of trouble. Things proved to be as uneventful as usual, an occasional miscreant here or there that would prove to be a worthy assignment for some of his students. When the Grim Reaper heard footsteps coming toward his area in the center of the vast room, he turned and shut off the display. To his surprise, Death Scythe was escorting a young lady he recognized from one of Soul and Maka's previous missions. Less surprising was the fact that Death Scythe was hitting on Blair every step of the way.

 **"Hello Hello, good ta see ya. What can I do for you today?"** Death asked curiously of the young woman once they were both on the small stage.

 **"Lord Death, Good Morning. This sweet little treat here came all this way to meet you in person before coming back to my place, right Blair?"** The weapon smirked, thinking he was so smooth.

 **"Nyope, but I did want to meet you Mister Death. You run this school where all my friends study right? Well it gets kinda lonely at home with them being gone and all,"** the cat mock-pouted, though with Spirit Albarn the first things in his head were how to make her home a little less lonely. With a not so subtle eyebrow wiggle, he grinned lecherously at her, but she paid no attention and continued on. **"I know you don't allow witches in your school but I really want to be with my friends and go on adventures and stuff. Please Mister Death? I know you know I'm actually just a cat."**

 **"Hmmm.. Being that you can change your form between a human and a cat, I don't suppose you'd be able to change into a weapon as well?"** The Grim Reaper asked, facial expression unchanged as he mulled over this unprecedented proposal.

 **"Um.. not exactly. I can only do so much with my magical power."** Her ears drooped a little as she pushed her fingertips together.

 **"I see. So you'd have to be able to weild a weapon of some kind. Spirit, if you would be so kind?"** At Lord Death's beckoning, Spirit shifted into his Death Scythe form, a long handle with a simple blade fixed on the crossed beam of the handle. Lord Death grasped the weapon and flourished it a bit, demonstrating basic mastery of the harmony between meister and weapon. Blair simply watched wide eyed and in awe as her cat ears twitched. **"The basic necessity for Weapon Meisters at the academy is to be able to fight with at least one weapon partner while fully transformed. A Meister or Weapon without their partner are virtually useless in combat. Here, try and hold Spirit to see if you understand."** He outstretched his long arm and held open his cartoonishly thick gloves.

Blair stepped forward and tried to lift the black weapon, but try though she might he wouldn't budge. She grasped him and yanked with all of her strength but still he rested in Lord Death's palms.

 **"Oh dear. I was afraid of that. Still, you were able to grasp the handle without suffering any major damage. Any ordinary person would feel immense pain, or even get burned trying to wield a weapon beyond their capabilities. I think it's safe to assume that you can at least learn to fight with a partner. I'm willing to give you this chance, but you'll have to work hard to catch up to the others. Can you do that, Blair?"** Lord Death tapped the bottom of Spirit's handle to the ground. That had the desired effect, as Blair straightened up from ears to tail in a full salute.

 **"You can count on me Death, sir!"** The Neko stated.

 **"Excellent. As it stands, there is one new student in need of a meister partner. The two of you will need to give it your all, but I have faith in you. Welcome to the DWMA!"**

 **"NYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"** She couldn't wait to get home and tell everyone the good news. The cat witch turned and ran off happily to share the good news.

 **"Are you sure about this Lord Death?"** Spirit's voice came through as his body reverted from weapon form. **"She may not be a witch, but the other students may not see it that way."**

 **"Have faith in her Spirit. She has been staying with your daughter since they met. I think if she had some kind of plot she would have acted by now."** The tall grim reaper watches as her tail disappears through the door. **"Besides, this benefits both of them."**

 **"You mean that new kid Dumb?"**

 **"Yes, _Dim_ is in a relatively similar situation to Blair. They both lack a certain social etiquette, and have only relied on themselves. However, Blair is very bubbly and outgoing, while Dim is quite introverted. What's more, they're both a bit self centered for now, having a partner will allow them both to open up and trust others. Living and fighting together will do the both of them good. Hopefully they'll be able to reach their full potential, both on and off the battlefield."**

* * *

 **End of Chapter 4  
**

Sorry this one took so long. I promise I'll be working faster on these, and working on my other fanfic as well. So yes i have Blair as Dim's partner. should prove interesting i think. see you next time,

Peace and Hair grease!


	5. A Team Assembles, Lord Death Has a Son?

Hallo again everyone! Welcome welcome to the next chapter of an Unsound Soul. First off, a big thank you to Karsap for proofing this chapter and encouraging me to put forth maximum effort, and of course to all of you who are reading. I'll keep this one short and sweet, so Onto the Fic!

Okuba-san owns all rights to Soul Eater

* * *

 **A** _ **Sound Soul**_ **dwells within a** _ **Sou-d Mi-d**_ **and a** _ **Sound Body.**_

 **"No Freaking way!" "That's awesome Blair." "You'll really be studying with us? That's so cool!"**

 **"Yup! Lord Death said that I'll have to be up bright and early in the morning so I can make it to class tomorrow. I'm gonna be a student, Nya!"** Blair pumped her fist in the air. Dim, Soul, and Maka had all crowded around the coffee table and were enjoying some store-bought desserts when Blair had thrown open the front door and shared the news. Currently, she stood in the doorway, getting cheers from all of her friends. She closed the door behind her and sat on the couch taking the small round treat dipped in sugar.

 **"So how'd you get Lord Death to admit you anyway? I would have figured you'd be toasted on the spot for being magical like a witch."** Soul, though a bit blunt, had a point. He popped the little fruit tart in his mouth and chewed whilst still talking. **"Even though techni'ally you're not a witch it'd be hard to ekshplain."** Soul gulped down the treat, just in time for Maka to bonk him over the head with a closed fist.

 **"Anyway, you'll be going to school with us right? That must mean you'll have to find a weapon partner. Wouldn't it be great if you and Dim were together? We'd all be like one big super team."** Maka smiled, picking up her plate and taking it to the kitchen. With the rest of the desserts being gone save for a sugar cookie dipped in frosting the other two followed suit, leaving the cookie in front of Blair.

 **"That would be kinda cool. Living together, fighting together. I wonder if we could get BlackStar and Tsubaki to live with us too, then we'd have our unstoppable unit together all the time."** Soul quipped, smirking.

 **"It would be nice having a partner that I wouldn't have to share. Then again I haven't had one yet and fighting is all the same to me. I guess I'd get used to... OW!"** Dim recoiled a little as Maka gave him a playful punch in the arm to shut him up.

 **"It'll be nice having you on campus Blair. If you need anything let us know okay?"** Maka smiled and sat with her, leaving the two boys to do the dishes. The cat woman smiled and nodded. With a yawn she stood and raised her arms.

 **"Nyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaa~ we should get some sleep. I get the feeling tomorrow is gonna be a big day!"**

 **~Next Morning, 6:55 AM~**

Blair had hit the snooze button 4 times, missing the rush of Soul and Maka running out the front door arguing about something that went unheard by the snoozing kitty. Dim was running behind as well, waking up in a bed that he still wasn't used to sleeping in had his whole morning routine out of whack. He was about to leave when he noticed that Blair was still in bed, or more accurately in, on and wrapped up by the bedsheets while she purred soundly. She had no schoolbag as far as he could tell, and other than her hat which she wore in cat form she didn't seem to need a whole lot of.. well anything. At the same time she had only worn an outfit that looked like it belonged to a witch, so going out like that may pose a problem. Since she was still asleep and Dim had his bag he decided a quick shopping trip before school would be in order. He picked up the sleeping cat and opened his jacket, slipping her in the front and poking her head out under his chin. He slung his bag over his shoulder and the other arm under Blair so her weight rested on his arm. The boy set out, closing and locking the door behind them as he made his way into town, hoping that one of the clothing stores would be open at so early an hour.

As it happened, halfway to DWMA was a shopkeep opening the large metal grate to the front of his shop. Looking inside, Dim noticed several racks of dresses, shirts, overcoats, pants, and jackets of various colors and sizes. **"Those look like they might work."** Looking down at the sleeping kitty Dim decides to take a detour. **"Excuse me sir, is your shop opening up?"**

 **"Huh? So early?"** The older looking gentleman took a look at the creature nestled in his shirt and turned away. **"Bah! Of with yea's, I don't allow animals in my store, and it's too early anyway."**

At that particular moment Blair stirred with a yawn and a meow that caught Dim's attention. **"Nyaaaaaaaa! Dim, where are we?"** She looks around, not leaving the warmth of his coat yet. The Shopkeep, having heard a sensual woman's voice, turned to see who was talking but only saw the kid and his cat.

 **"Who's there? I swear I heard some young hot thing talkin' a second ago."** He turned this way and that, trying to catch any glimpse of the woman but nobody else was up yet.

 **"Down here."**

 **"Eh?"** The cat and the old man locked eyes, Blair smiling as he looked dumbfounded. She lept out of her napping spot and landed on her feet, padding to the space between them.

 **"I'm not just some street cat, Old Guy."** She swiped her paw over her face and gave a very human yawn as the clerk dropped his jaw. The situation only got worse as she transformed out of her cat form into her usual deep purple dress and high boots. Dim couldn't see past her but from what he could glean from context his jaw fell to the floor as she gave the man a soft wink.

 **"She needs a new outfit or two, you mind if we look around for some stuff before class?"** Dim looked at the clock hanging in the shop. They were already going to be late for class, so skipping first period wouldn't be out of the question at this point. Professor Stein probably wouldn't notice anyway.

 **"Oh Sure why didn't ya say so? For you miss everything is 10% off. Heck, make it 15% as long as you try it before you buy it."** There was a devious look about this guy, but Blair just pumped her fist and walked right in. Dim, having noticed no pockets on Blair at all, followed as well, presuming he would have to pay for her.

Blair's first costume change consisted of a bright yellow sundress that went to her knees and almost matched one of the girls at Chupa Cabra's perfectly. It fit her figure well enough, but with her deep rich hair color and fair complexion she had her doubts. Both men dismissed it right away, telling her to try again. The next thing she put on was a pair of denim shorts and a dark tank top that didn't cover her navel. The shopkeep fell backwards as soon as she stepped out of the changing room with a lecherous grin and a nosebleed fountain. Blair, though liking the functionality of it, found that it was a bit uncomfortable to move around too much in. After nearly an hour of trying to find something suitable Dim piled up the clothing she had tried on thus far, only to have everything fall from his grasp save for a few things.

 **"Hey Blair? Try these on."** He held out the clothes in his arms, a black halter top similar to the one she was wearing to begin with but with a cut down the middle that showed some cleavage. Around that was a light olive mini coat that only came out to her elbows and halfway down her midriff, left unzipped with the fleece inside slightly puffed out. Along with her new top was a pair of royal blue denim pants that accentuated her hips and covered a pair of boots that had less heel than her old pair. With a quick spin to test her new look she grinned and gave it the thumbs up. **"Puuurrrrrrrfect~!"**

Dim looked around once more and noticed a white driver's cap hanging from the hook labeled 75% off and picked it up. It looks like it was just hung up, but the tag is labeled from a week ago.

 **"Oh that? That there isn't a popular sell if you'll believe it. Heck, take that one for free if you buy all this other stuff."** Dim looked at it for a moment and held it up, thinking for a moment. It would probably look better if her hair didn't curl at the end but at least it would hide her ears and replace that pointed hat that made her look like a witch. _'I wonder if she would be able to put her old hat inside her new one. She did say she's magic after all.'_ He thought to himself. **"Here Blair. Wear this to the DWMA, at least for today so nobody thinks you're a witch. I'll keep all your old clothes in my bag until we get home."**

 **"Thanks Dimitri-kun!"** With that the kitty cat hugged the young man into her chest, nearly smothering him and causing a bit of stir in the otherwise empty store. It was nearly 9:30 by now, and after a quick haggle and removing all of Blair's tags from her new outfit the two set off. Blair, feeling warm and lazy in the bright sun had reverted to her cat form much to Dim's chagrin. **"Wake me up when we get there, m'kay?"** Dim, though slightly irritated, lay the kitty in his oversized hood and made their way quickly through town and up the insurmountably long flight of steps.

Along his way he spotted a trio of newcomers, a young boy in a suit and two women dressed similarly though there were obvious differences such as height and one of the women being a short haired blonde and in shorts while the other was wearing jeans and long brown hair. Taking great care not to run into them as BlackStar had done to him on his first day he sidestepped and passed them by effortlessly. **"Pardon us! Coming through."** Having slept soundly most of the way Blair felt the jostling as she swayed from the sudden lateral motion causing her to sit bolt upright and look back at the trio behind them.

 **"..Did that kid have a cat in his jacket?"** The brunette asked, slightly puzzled.

 **"I think it was. Hey, does this school allow pets Kid?"** The blonde looked expectantly at the boy in the suit.

 **"Curious fellow. At least he had some sense of manners. Liz, Patty, Let's go."**

 **"** _ **Now**_ **you're ready to get to class? What's the big rush, we're already almost 3 hours late."**

Liz and Patty followed Kid as they made their way to the DWMA at a leisurely pace. Ahead of them, Dim raced up the stairs two and three steps at a time. Blair, being unable to sleep anymore hopped up onto Dim's head and transformed midair to land at the top just ahead of him. The pair were surprised to find that both Soul and BlackStar were sitting there in the atrium instead of in class.

 **"What are you guys doing here?"** Dim asked. **"Didn't class start already?"**

 **"We're here to see this new guy who apparently took an assignment at the pyramids of Anubis. That was a top-level task and only the strongest students could take that and clear it. Rumor has it that's Lord Death's own son."**

 **"Is that so?"** Behind Dim and Blair the young man and his two companions ascended to the top step. **"I take it that you're here to give me a tour of the school then?"**

 **"No way! If you were here at 7 like you were supposed to be you could have taken a tour of the school by yourself."** Soul rolled his eyes, not noticing that BlackStar had vanished. In fact, only Blair had her eye on him while the boy in a suit fell to his knees and clasped his head.

 **"What the hell did you just say? 7? No. Say 8 dammit! Please just say 8 instead of 7, I beg of you. While the number 7 cannot be cut evenly into two perfect halves the number 8 has perfect horizontal and vertical symmetry."** Kid was absolutely obsessed with symmetry, it was a compulsive disorder that often caused strain between him and his partners. Just like this morning, when he had to make absolutely sure that he hung the pictures in all of his rooms in perfect mirror imagery.

 **"Not only that, but if you cut the number 8 in half horizontally you get two circles with perfect radial symmetry."** Dim pointed out matter of factly, though there was a bit of awkward silence following his statement.

 **"Yahoo! Who cares about numbers? You think you can ignore me just because you-"** While BlackStar made his speech, which went unheard by everyone down below, Liz and Patty were debating if he was some sort of monkey. Blair cocked her head to one side and tried to listen but couldn't hear anything. They all stood for a few moments letting him ramble until all at once the conical tip of the building he was standing on gave way under his weight, cracking and falling off along with him, a fact that made Kid pale in pure terror and fury.

 **"You. Do you realize what you've just done? It's not symmetrical anymore you jerk!"** The kid in the suit screamed.

The taller sister, Liz, rolled her eyes and scoffed. **"Great, now look you've got him all wound up again."**

 **"Are you ready little man? I'm about to kill you and take your soul, with my special BlackStar Assassination skills."** Blackstar bounced giddily on his toes, ready to fight this newcomer.

 **"It's not an assassination if you've been seen, idiot."** Dim, Soul, and Blair all chorused at once.

 **"You're disgusting. You would throw away your soul picking a fight with a grim reaper, and worse disrupt the perfect balance of this school? Sickening. Liz, Patty: weapon forms. We'll be teaching him a lesson."**

 **"Right!"** The two girls replied in unison, glowing and vaulting into the air with a bright pink light. When they fell into his hands they showed themselves as.. Pistols?

 **"He does realize that he's holding them upside down, right?"** Blair leaned over toward Dim, who shrugged and gently tugged her out of the line of fire and beside one of the pillars to watch the fight.

 _'This guy had the strength to take down Anubis..'_ Soul thought to himself.

 _'He has to have guts thinking he can outshine me all the time.'_ BlackStar mused.

 _'They may not be perfect, but they were able to capture and overtake Sid, not to mention holding their own against Dr Stein.'_ Kid sized each of them up, all three staring down with the same thought in their heads.

 _ **'I'll need to keep my guard up.'**_

Kid made the first move, opening his stance to fire one of his twin pistols at Soul and BlackStar separately. The two couldn't get close enough to pair as long as they were dodging the hail of bullets, and that would give Kid the advantage. Both Dim and Blair sat in the shade, observing from a safe distance and Dim even handed over some iced tea from the thermos in his bag. It was honestly funny watching BlackStar try to get close only to handspring backwards when he nearly got shot in the foot. Blair watched Soul carefully, scrambling to stay ahead of Kid's antics but found himself skidding to a halt half the time.

 **"Dammit we can't even get close to this guy!"** The assassin shouted, leaping backward again as the gunfire ceased.

 **"What's that? You want a more up close and personal confrontation?"** Kid gave a flip and a spin in midair and brought his left heel down over BlackStar's head, stopped by his enormous arms. The self proclaimed Grim Reaper could hear Soul coming at him and raised the gun in his right hand to catch the blade of the scythe like a sword.

 **"The hell?!"** Soul had no time to react, the gun barrel of his free hand had come around to his gut and in one fell swoop Kid had uppercut BlackStar with his loafer and unloaded a shot into Soul's gut, causing him to fly back several feet doubled over.

 **"Well well, how's the fight going so far?"** At that moment Professor Stein as well as Maka and Tsubaki snuck up to check on the dueling students.

 **"Depends on which side you're cheering for. The one in the suit with the guns and his two partners have been in control of the entire fight thus far, though a couple minor mistakes were made. The other two though.."** Dim was studying the new kid carefully, watching his every move.

Kid righted himself and stood triumphantly as Patty giggled and stuck her tongue out at BlackStar for good measure.

 _ **"We don't use actual bullets,"**_ Liz said to Soul in her gun form. _**"Instead we fire compressed wavelengths of our Meister's soul."**_ That, however, proved of little consolation to Soul who was doubled over where he was shot, groaning about how much that hurt. BlackStar, now frustrated and tenderly grasping his jaw, got up.

 **"My dear soul-seeing students may I please borrow you for a moment?"** Maka and Dim turned to face him. **"I have an easy assignment that I want you to do for me today. Watch this fight carefully, focus on Kid and his twin pistols. I want you to assess their soul wavelengths."**

Maka calmed herself and turned on her soul-sight, finding that Kid and his two weapons had perfect balance and order, working as an equilateral triangle with no one side greater or smaller than the other two. What's more, they had a natural gravity toward each other as if they were joined magnetically.

 **"They sync up to each other perfectly, all united as one fighting force instead of a team of three individuals. The twin pistols seem to share a bond with him, out of respect. No, it's more than that.. Admiration."**

 **"Very good Maka."** Professor Stein took a long drag of his cigarette and smirked a little. **"Dimitri?"**

 **"..they don't stand a chance. Soul and BlackStar I mean. It's much less organized watching the two of them fight as individuals going for the kill on every blow. It's a wonder they havent.."** _ **-CRASH!-**_ Kid instead of counterattacking BlackStar's wild punch avoided the hit and tripped him up, sending the young man headlong into Soul who retracted his scythe just in time to avoid giving him more than a slight haircut. **"..Nevermind."** The two boys tumbled a fair distance and separated.

 **"Also correct. The twin pistols in Kid's hands are called the Thompson sisters, Liz and Patty. They grew up on the streets, much like you did Dimitri. But Kid found them and gave them a second chance at life, something nobody else had. Now they look up to him because he never looked down on them. It works well for Kid too, as their carefree attitudes help to cancel out his neurotic tendencies."** Stein finished, blowing out a billow of smoke.

 **"That would explain the little outburst that started this whole mess.."** Dim said, smelling the tobacco in the air but resisting the urge to bum a second one off the man. He instead took a swig of tea, though Blair looked at him and blinked curiously.

 **"That's enough of that."** BlackStar and Soul gathered themselves and stood side by side. **"Time now to end this. Quake with fear, New Guy, we have a power beyond belief."**

 **"When you say things like that it makes me want to laugh."**

 **"You won't be laughing when you taste our power of friendship. It's kinda scary how strong it really is. Let's do it! Trans-FORM!"** Soul beamed deviously and converted his whole body, shooting high into the air and flourishing with a spiral as he rose and fell. **"Righteous-"**

 **"-Fusion!"** BlackStar yelled into the sky as the scythe fell into his hands and he caught Soul.

...with his head.

The weapon slid over BlackStar's scalp and thudded to the cobbled walkway as Blackstar desparately tried to stop the bleeding. The entire sight had all the spectators deadpanning and sighing in defeat. This was made worse when BlackStar, despite his overly developed muscles, could barely lift the shaft of Soul from the ground without causing himself to go purple in the face from sheer effort. And worse still was that BlackStar shocked Soul with his Big Wave attack on accident causing them both to erupt in a geyser of blood and swearing.

 **"BlackStar, I'm sorry but I don't think we can work together."**

 **"Oh, okay. But.. can we still be friends?"**

 **...**

 **"OF COURSE WE'RE STILL FRIENDS!"**

When they began running slow motion at each other in a manly display and held together in an epicly mushy brohug Dim suddenly lost a little respect for them both, and was pretty sure he wouldn't need to eat any more that day.. or the week following.

 **"OH SOUL!"**

 **"BLACKSTAR!"**

 **"OH SOUL!"**

 **"BLACKSTAR!"**

 **"OH SOU-"** Thankfully, the montage of bromance was interrupted when Kid scored two perfect headshots on them both and knocked the out for the time being.

 **"Soul!" "BlackStar!"** Maka and Blair both made their way over to the weapon lying there dazed, while Tsubaki went over to check on BlackStar. Getting hit in the head twice in two days couldn't be good for anyone, especially BlackStar.

 **"..Sorry. My fingers slipped."**

 **"Hey. You. Kid Death, was it? Those are my friends you just knocked out cold. In a fair fight I would let that go, but that was a cheap shot and that I cannot accept. I hope you're ready, because now you'll be facing me."** Dim stood unassuming but threatened Kid anyway, ready to fight him even without a meister.

 **"And me."** Blair stood by his side. **"Soul is my friend too, so don't ask me to back down Dim-kun.** " she tugged down the brim of her hat ready to use her magic.

 **"If you insist, why not try partnering up? At least this once."** Dim stood by her side, ready to follow her lead. **"Should be interesting at least."**

 **"Right. Transform please Dim."** Blair held out her hands, taking his sleeved hand in hers. The green sleeve snaked around her arm and with a spectacular flash turned into his weapon form with the weighted end coiled around her arm. She grasped him in her left hand and with the right hand grasped the bottom end of the knife.

 _ **"Be careful he's an expert at martial arts and skilled in ranged combat. I've been watching how he fights carefully so I'll try to keep you informed as quick as I can. You ready?"**_

 **"Let's go."** The cat woman ran in with the knife end pointed down, eyes on Kid as he dropped and took a stance with both pistols pointed at her.

 _ **"That's a gun kata, he plans on keeping his distance. Watch out!"**_ Dim gave her left arm a light tug and she followed, sidestepping a quick burst of shots. Kid adjusted his stance and fired another short burst. Liz and Patty each picked a part of Blair to aim for as Kid repeated this process several times. Blair and Dim were making a little headway, though progress was slow.

 _ **"Think of me like a whip Blair. Whichever end you throw hold on tight to the opposite end, I'll do the heavy work. You focus on finding an opening, and I'll work defense."**_

 **"Right."** She swapped the bladed end in her dominant right hand, guarding backhand as a shot rang out and ground against Dim's metal body. Inside the weapon he could feel his own soul wavelength disrupted by the near miss. At the same time he felt Blair's soul waves and found that they were quite compatible with his own, so he allowed himself to draw closer to her. _'I still feel so vulnerable like this, but I can trust her. Somehow I know I can.'_ As Kid fired Liz and Patty more feverishly he found his chains lifting and twisting like a shield, catching the attacks without effort.

 _ **"That all you've got? I'm honestly a little underwhelmed."**_ Dim quipped from inside his weapon. The fight stopped for a second, then Kid beamed.

 **"You want my best? Very well. Liz, Patty, Execution Mode please."**

 _ **"Right." "Okaaay!"**_ Both pistols glowed brightly and swelled, extending below his knees and down toward the stones beneath them.

 _ **"Let's go, Soul Resonance!"**_

When the light vanished, both hands were encased by massive cannons with the Death emblem emblazoned on the outsides.

 _ **"Resonance stable, Noise level at 0.3%"**_ Came Liz's voice.

 _ **"Blair, if you have any tricks up your sleeve, I'd get them ready. He's collecting all of his soulwaves into one massive concentrated force. Wait until he fires, then counter attack. There's no way that kind of attack is rapid fire so we'll have a window of opportunity."**_

 _ **"Black Needle soul wavelength fully charged"**_ Patty reported, building all of her force to match her sister.

Blair nodded at her partner and began muttering a spell for just such an occasion. **"Pum.. Pum-Pum Pumpkin Pum-Pumkin Pumpkin.."**

 _ **"Feedback in 4 seconds." "3." "2." "1."**_ Liz gave it her all, weapons fully charged. _**"Firing now"**_ Patty gave a nonchalant wave of two fingers and signalled the all clear. The beams glowed ominously as Kid raised both arms at Blair and her weapon. **"Death Cannon."** The sound of the shot alone ripped through the air and sent ripples up everyone's spine. The concussive force erupted in a cloud of dust and smoke, billowing like souls crying out and being silenced.

The cloud of dust began to clear on the ground, and neither Blair nor a single link in Dimitri's chain could be found. Tsubaki clasped her hand over her mouth in shock, Kid even widened his eyes. He meant to scare or wound them sure, but to completely eradicate them was too far.

A brief glint of light was his only warning, dodging the sharp edge as it flew past his face. He traced the chain back to it's source and found..

 **"What?!"** Kid gaped as Blair had escaped into the smoke atop one of her flying pumpkins, weapon still at the ready as the air cleared. **"She's flying? -gasp- A witch!"** Kid readied his Death Cannons again, though there wasn't enough time as Blair and Dim came crashing down in a burst of bright orange magic that sent both teams skidding back.

 **"I'm not a witch."** Blair stated, a bit more harshly than she intended. The white driver's cap atop her head had been badly damaged, and though it held on this long the singed fabric fell from her head and revealed her purple cat's ears. **"Just a very magical cat."**

For a second the two stared each other down, eager to put an end to it.

Out of nowhere, Kid falls over in a slump as Liz and Patty emerge from their weapon forms.

 **"Oh great, now we'll never hear the end of this."** Liz said with a scoff. **"Hahahahahaha Kid you look so pathetic."** Patty poked Kid's cheek a few times, but he was utterly debilitated.

 **"I don't get it?"** Tsubaki tilted her head, just as BlackStar and Soul were waking up. BlackStar sat upright and watched Dimitri revert to his human form, then looked over to see Kid fallen over and beaten. **"Tsubaki, don't tell me that Dimitri actually beat that guy?"**

 **"I can explain."** Maka helped Soul up onto his feet. **"After Kid fired that last attack off Dim and Blair used the sun to blind him. While he couldn't see Kid just narrowly managed to avoid the knife and instead got one half of his bangs cut short. Since he was so focused on the fight he didn't notice until they separated and his hair settled."**

 **"...That's a hell of a way to lose a fight."** Soul groaned, dusting himself off. Dim, not seeing what the big deal was about being symmetrical, decided to humor his opponent and shifted his hand into a blade. At first the Thompson girls were afraid he would seriously end Kid, but before they could snap at him the weapon had cut his bangs even again and returned to normal.

Professor Stein clapped and wheeled over to them all, just in time to be followed by Lord Death himself. **"Very well done Dimitri, and you must be Blair the new student. Lord Death told me you'd be starting today, as well as his son. I must say this has been a very interesting first day, you even managed to bond with your new weapon partner naturally."**

 **"'New weapon partner?' But then, that would mean.."** Blair pointed at Dim, who looked back up at her with a neutral expression.

 **"Called it."** Soul said with a smirk. **"Did not!"** Maka exclaimed, only to be shrugged at.

 **"As far as partners go, I could do worse."** Dim assessed her and thought back to how he had grabbed her on the way out the door and carried her. Somehow he hadn't even thought about leaving her behind, it was just natural to look out for her. **"In fact, I'm rather happy that we worked so well together Blair."**

 **"My my my, it looks like everyone has had such an eventful day. I hope my son wasn't too much trouble. Aw, he looks all tuckered out."** Lord Death poked his son's cheek as Kid was slung over Liz's back.

 **"You've gotta be kidding me! I'm a huge star and Dim goes and beats a grim reaper so easily? Dammit!"** BlackStar pouted, but Dim came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

 **"Relax BlackStar, we all know you wore him out for me."** Dim said it so nonchalantly it's hard to tell if he was being sarcastic, but the assassin took his words and posed heroically.

 **"Of course I did, we are friends after all. Pretty big of me to step aside and let you take all the glory huh?"** Tsubaki sighed in defeat, but smiled all the same. He was still the same old BlackStar, ego and all. But Dim just smiled softly and nodded.

Meanwhile, Blair was over by Professor Stein and Maka, watching Death and the Thompson sisters discuss the various events of the day.

 **"Professor? Do you think I'll fit in okay here? Even Kid thought I was.. you know."** Blair hung her ears back, nervous that she might be misjudged.

 **"You'll be fine, I'm sure. Prove through your actions you're on our side. Who knows, you may just make a few friends."** Professor Stein glanced over at Maka, who appeared to be staring at something. **"Maka?** _ **Maka?**_ **"**

The meister snapped out of her reverie. **"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just.. nevermind."**

 **"It's fine, class is dismissed for today anyway. Get some rest everyone, I expect to see you all bright and early tomorrow."** He puffed out a slow stream of the bluish smoke and followed Maka's gaze. _'So she hasn't figured it out yet..'_ Maka, still trying to see Death's soul, started out toward home with her friends. She hadn't seen his soul inside his body. Little did she realize, that his soul was in fact around her, around all of them, surrounding Death City and keeping it safe with it's warm and ever-present power.

* * *

 _ **~~End of chapter~~**_

AN: Whew! man this one really took a long time but I hope you guys liked it. Reviews are always appreciated but just knowing that someone is reading this is enough for me. Until next time, when we start delving into the deeper plot. Read it, or i'll take your soul!


	6. First mission, The taste of Victory?

Brief foreword before getting back into it:  
1) yes i know i take forever to update and post new chapters and i'm sorry but work comes first and it takes up like 45% of my 24 hour day.  
2) and most importantly thank you for following me thus far and faving me, you know who you are. the reviews also help a lot thanks.

Of course, tip of the hat to my beta Karsap for keeping me focused and in the right general direction.

Now then, onward!

 **All credit to Soul Eater and its brilliant team for inspiring this fanfic. I only own the one character.**

* * *

 _ **A Sound Soul dwells within a Sound M- and a Sound Body**_

A week had passed since the DWMA students clashed with Kid Death, who eventually found his place in Class Crescent Moon. The morning lecture was about to begin with the bell, and just as Doctor Stein wheeled his way in the room and picked up the attendance sheet there was an announcement over the PA system.

 **"Attention students, attention!"** Lord Death sounded extra chipper today for some reason. **"Would Maka Albarn, Soul Eater, Dimitri Makovic, and Blair please join me in the Death Room? Maka, Soul, Dimitri and Blair to the Death Room please. That is all."**

 **"Very well, you four are dismissed from class today, please take your things. As for the rest of you I've got a fantastic lesson on phasmology planned for you today. Who knows, maybe later we'll get to dissect a real kishin egg soul."** Dr Stein fiddled with the large bolt in his head as the above mentioned all shuffled their way past their friends into the aisle and quietly out the door.

 **"What do you think, a mission of some kind?"** Dim queried lazily.

 **"Probably. Why would he pick two teams though? Usually we pick our own missions or get them directly from our teacher. Least we get the day off from class, so that's cool."** Soul smiled over Maka, whose face was still pressed in her book so much that she nearly ran into a wall had Soul not grabbed her shirt sleeve and steered her in the right direction.

 **"Nyaaaaah as long as we go someplace fun who cares?"** Blair had resumed her cat form and leapt into Dim's jacket, her claws sticking out. She padded and scratched a couple times at the inside of his rough coat.

 **"DON'T DO THAT!"** He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and hauled her out of his coat before she could react. In a blink he had dropped her onto the floor with an unceremonious plop. Both Maka and Soul turned to their friend with jaws agape. It was perhaps one of very few shows of true raw emotion from the boy. Blair cocked her head up at him, the fur of her hackles raised slightly from the rough treatment. **"Sorry Blair, I didn't mean it."**

The rest of the walk to the Death Room was spent in absolute silence, Dim hanging back now with Blair padding along ahead of Soul and Maka. Once more they were stood in front of Lord Death at his circle in the middle of the room, this time furnished with only a small table for tea.

 **"Ah there you are. Good to see ya good ta see ya. How's it goin'?"** The grim reaper greeted them all warmly. **"I'll get right to it, this mission might take a while. There's rumors that a couple of kishin eggs are on the loose somewhere in Italy. Normally I would just dispatch one team to handle them both individually, but since Blair and Dim still lack any real experience or training, I thought it would be best to learn from one of my favorite students. The first you'll be looking for is Son-Son J., or as they call him in America- Jason Voorhees. He's probably no big deal but he's been at it for much longer than many others so Maka and Soul will take care of him first. The one you two will be looking out for is John Wayne Gacy, known as The Killer Clown. I want Dim and Blair to learn to fight on their own, so only interfere if they need help. Well that's all, take care now"** Like that the grim reaper waved his giant blocky hand at them and sent them off. The DWMA private vehicle fleet had many modes of transportation but to get to Italy meant either a helicopter or more likely the jet.

The four of them piled into the spacious little plane and took a seat. Soul of course took up two and a half cushions on the couch until Maka bopped him on the forehead with her book prompting him to sit up and move over into a half-slouch over the arm of the chair. Blair curled up in a seat by the window at a table and Dim sat opposite her, clinging tightly to his jacket where she scratched earlier.

 **"Hey, Dim?"** Maka probed carefully. Outside the engines could be heard revving up as they took off. Dim turned to her, still clutching his jacket. **"You seemed really upset at Blair earlier."**

 **"Yeah what's with that? It's just a dumb jack-oof!"** This time it was Dim who had hit Soul, the weighted ball extending from his arm by a chain had drilled into Soul's navel.

 **"IT'S NOT A DUMB JACKET! ..It's all I have left."** He looked downtrodden now, retracting his weapon back into himself and finding a spot on the table to stare at. He clutched his knees against his chest tightly. **"I don't remember my parents. I've been an orphan pretty much my whole life.."**

 **~~~Flashback~~~**

Dimitri, age 7, stood in the office of a sparse office clinging tightly to the hem of his dirty yellow shirt and grey shorts. The portly fellow behind the desk twirled his moustache and set his bowler hat on the coat rack behind him, clearing his throat meaninglessly. They all did that when they had to deliver bad news. He didn't like bad news. As it was, Dimitri stood there in shock and nearing tears.

 **"I'm sorry young man, but I'm afraid the state can no longer afford to help keep this foster home afloat financially. That is to say.. oh how do I put this lightly? You and your friends are being moved to another home, a bigger one with more friends to play with."** His gentle voice did nothing to ease the confusion and pain.

 _'But, I don't wanna go.. Mr and Mrs Hiddleston were nice..'_ He had heard the older couple discussing things which they "wouldn't want the kids to worry about" when they didn't think he was awake. _'Why? Don't they want us?'_ Fear and confusion turned to panic and hurt. The gentleman with the funny moustache continued to talk and try to explain to him, but Dim's mind had long since tuned him out. If they were moving, they would get separated. Angie, David, Miles, Marvin, Trisha.. they wouldn't all come with him would they? And so many of them were already close to _that_ age.. the age when parents stopped asking if they can adopt you. Angie was only one birthday away, Miles would be there in two weeks, Trisha and Marvin had already been passed over twice. He would watch as they were given the papers and taken away by the suit people. No.. They couldn't. They wouldn't. Dim knew there was only one way to not go, they would all run away and try to find Brady and Sharon. They ran away and started a hangout in the alleys for kids without homes.

 _ **~Timeskip, months later~**_

They had done it. The night before the Hiddleston Home was going to be shut down they all snuck out the window. Finding Brady and Sharon was easy, but when they got there they found out that living wasn't like they were used to. Dim didn't care. They had a whole alley and an abandoned lot to live and play and sleep and eat in. Sharon found work and got money on the weekends to buy stuff like sodas and candy and pillows and old bean bags with holes in the side. It was comfy, especially when they slept on it. For a while everything was good, until Sharon stopped going to work for a reason she said was "a grown up thing." Dim found her cigarettes and one day asked about them. He was almost 9 so she smiled and told him how to hold it like a cool kid.

 **"First,"** She said with authority **"Ya take it and put it in yer lip like this, ya see?"** For emphasis she wiggled it a little and Dim did the same, with less results. **"Right, then ya get your lighter or matches or whatever you can burn and you light up the end while ya suck on it."** She clicked a metallic lighter and Dim watched in awe as the little flame danced, burning the paper and stinging his lungs as she sucked in the first drag and blew it out. It made his stomach turn, but it was grown up so he wanted to be like her. **"When it burns, you suck it in and hold it. The smoke is made of stuff that calms you down when you feel jittery. Here, you try."** She lit his, and it was a hundred times worse. He coughed and choked and nearly dropped to his knees, but she just laughed and patted him on the back. Brady came over to see what was going on. At first he looked angry but then he just smirked and shook his head. Marvin wasn't too happy about not having money for things, but everyone else seemed to do okay.

 _ **~Timeskip, day unknown month unknown~**_

There was no more job, no money for anything, Sharon was gone, Brady was frustrated all the time. Miles' stomach growled, Angie snapped.

 **"Can you just not right now?"**

 **"I can't help it! I'm hungry Angie."**

 **"WE'RE ALL HUNGRY!"** Brady yelled. He yelled a lot lately. He was thin now, moreso than when they were all first together. The alley had moved, there was no dirt lot anymore and more police. The only things they had now was food they could take for themselves or the discarded papers that people tossed out. Those were used for bonfires to keep warm when they could. Dim still had Sharon's lighter, she had thrown it at Brady for some reason but she walked away before explaining to anyone and never came back. The flint was nearly run out and they used anything they could to keep the fire going nightly. Sometimes they were successful but now it was getting harder and harder, especially when Dim's thumb had blisters and Marvin wanted to fight and take it away. Brady always told him that it was Dim's now, he was supposed to protect it and so Dim did. Dim's once bright shirt was torn and more brown than yellow, his shorts had been replaced by a pair that were splattered on the pocket.

All of them stole what they could to survive, sharing what they found when they came back. Marvin never had anything good but always wanted to complain and take from others. Angie was always on edge, and Miles slept a lot except when he was needed for begging for change.

Nobody said anything to each other for a long time, until night came and everyone emptied out their pockets. Angie found some red apples and a box of cigarettes for Dim to have. Miles found cold hot dogs barely touched and panhandled $4.76 from the kindness of strangers. Dim managed to sneak a small collection of beef jerky from a gas station and a sandwich from a diner that hadn't cleaned its tables yet. Brady produced some veggies from a kind old lady he helped across the street and said to be a good boy, to which he nodded and smiled and affirmed he would try his best. Marvin fished out a handful of gumballs only for his pocket to turn out and spill out coins and a few dollar bills.

 **"Marv, what is that?"** Brady looked scared, and when Dim looked he too saw something scary. A knife, somewhat dulled and bloody with a wallet hanging out half opened. It too was marked with the crimson spatter and scared everyone so much they took a few steps back.

 **"I.. I found it."** He was always a terrible liar. Brady's frown grew immediately, both shocked and angry. Marvin tried to explain immediately. **"It's not fair that he could just walk around like he owns the city and we all starve! I just told him I need some money and he.. he.. "**

The sirens came from all sides; everyone scattered except Miles who was too faint to stand. The cops grabbed him and yelled something Dim couldn't hear. He had to run, to get as far away from Marvin as possible. He ran as hard and fast as his legs would carry him, for minutes that seemed to stretch into hours as the sirens kept following his steps until finally his weak feet gave out under him and sent him tumbling into a dumpster that had a faded moldy old mattress leaned against it. The rain came and try as he might he had nowhere to go that he could get warm and dry. His legs were done running, his head was a blur. He couldn't even stay awake from starvation, and his last conscious thought was the terror that gripped him as he felt hands wrapped around his forearm and yanking him up to his feet before total darkness set in.

He heard something nearby, a familiar sound. There was a fire crackling and popping off to his right just behind his head. Had it all been a dream? His throat was dry as a desert and burned, a light sheen of sweat glistened on his brow.

 **"..Brady?"** He croaked out through gasps. As he sat up he became aware of the mauve wallpaper that signified he was inside, and the downpour outside accompanied by thunder and lightning that warned him that the dream he had was very real.

 **"Oh! good, You're awake."** Upon hearing the voice he turned and found a woman with long hair that draped along her ears and framed her gentle face, soft hazel eyes and round rimmed glasses that glinted in the fire light. **"I was afraid you'd catch a cold if I had left you there. What were you doing playing out in the rain this late at night? Shouldn't you be at home with your mom and dad?"**

Dim looked down at his hands. She had washed them, then given him the blanket and set him on the couch. He was still soaked but there were towels under him at least. **"I don't.. have."** While Brady and Sharon had tried teaching him many things both before and after leaving the foster home Dim still had trouble speaking. His vocabulary was very limited and usually he preferred to listen rather than talk. That isn't to say he wasn't intelligent, but his language skills worked better in one direction than the other.

 **"O-oh.. Oh you poor dear I'm so sorry. I had heard you clanking into my trash cans but I just thought you were playing and fell asleep from being so tired. I was worried there when you just went limp but you'll be okay now. You ought'a get outta those clothes so head down the hall I've got a bath waiting for you all hot and bubbly and when you're all scrubbed up we can get you something to wear while your clothes dry. My son's clothes may be a bit big but help yourself to anything you like and we'll see if we can't get you all situated."** She offered her hand, a lot like how Sharon and Angie and Brady did. He took it and nodded carefully, walking (and dripping) down the hall as the lady with the fireplace set out the many towels and blankets to dry. He came back a while later all prune-y but warm from the outside in and came back with a pair of pants that were too long for him and way too big around, a plain grey shirt that was almost the right size, and a green striped jacket that was almost brand new.

 **" 'Mi-tri.. Di-mi-tri.."** He looked up at her with those sweet innocent eyes of his. His skin was a little sickly but she could tell he was a good kid who was in a bad way.

 **"Well Dimitri would ya like to stay for soup and cookies until the storm passes?"** His stomach grumbled, and he nodded appreciatively.

 **"Than-kyoo"** For the rest of the night she talked to him and he talked back, speaking more and more a little at a time. He actually felt.. good.

Until

 **"Brady!"** He stopped mid sentence when he realized the police had shown up and scattered everyone. **"My friends. They're out there!"** He ran to the door but when he wrenched it open he found only darkness and more rain as the storm continued on. He felt a tug at his arm.

 **"You can't go out right now! It's too dangerous, come back inside.. I promise we'll find your friends tomorrow!"** She cried over the boom of thunder. Lightning flashed and made him jump, so he went with her back inside. **"These friends, are they all homeless like you?"**

A nod

 **"What do they look like? What are their names?"** She produced a piece of paper and a pencil. Dim took it and started drawing, one at a time.

 **"Miles is really skinny and tall as me. He's got long hair and freckles on his cheeks. Marvin is like me but he's taller and wears a hat all the time. His hair is black and his eyes are too. Angie has short yellow hair and likes wearing funny clothes.. And Brady looks like he plays baseball but I don't think he does."**

 **" 'Brady?' Does Brady have a thing on his neck that looks like a circle? Right about here?"** She indicated a dime-sized area on her neck in the same place that Brady had one.

 **"Yea! you know him?"**

She looked at Dim's drawing and confirmed her suspicions. Indeed she did know Brady. The mark he had was from a burn that someone had given him when he had been caught trying to steal a loaf of bread. She had been kind enough to pay for it and sent Brady home that day not realizing he was providing for others.

 **"I met him once. He's a good kid."** At that moment she took out one of Dim's cigarettes which had been saved from the rain in his pocket by the plastic of the box and lit it up, taking a long puff. **"You shouldn't smoke at your age. They say it'll give you cancer."**

 **"What's a cancer?"** As he asked she took another puff and flicked the ashes away. She turned to him and smiled, and patted his head.

 **"Never you mind. Just stay warm for now."** There was a long silence as the two sat and watched the fire. **"You know, you could stay here for a while if you ever need a place to get out of the cold. My son's room is unoccupied now, so you can sleep in there. Just as long as you don't mind an old bat like me."** She chuckled. Dim didn't get it, she was a person not a bat. She didn't even look close to a bat except her slightly upturned button nose.

 **"Is he the boy in the pictures on the walls?"** All over the house were portraits of the young man, some on his own others with the woman or a group of friends. He was much older than Dim, probably late in his teens. As he mentioned the photos she teared up and wiped it away with a solemn nod.

 **"Y-Yeah, he.. -sniffle- you really remind of him. Way back when he was little."** She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, unsure of this woman but she had given him a hot bath warm clothes and got him out of the rain. They had beef stew that night as the thunder roared and the rain battered the windows. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning Dim finally fell asleep on the couch.

 _ **~~Time Skip, 4 months~~**_

 **"Oh Dim you got a black eye again. Were you fighting that boy.. Marvin?"** She had let him stay whenever he wanted, but he was also free to come and go and sleep outside if he wanted. Some nights were just easier that way. Like when she cried. He knew she cared about him, that much he could figure out. As well as caring from him she also helped him gain confidence in his speech and taught him like Sharon used to. She made him really think about stuff sometimes, and when he didn't understand she would explain it in a way he understood. She was patient but firm about fighting.

 **"It's nothin', I'm fine."** He pushed her hand away as she probed at the tender lump. He was beaten again by one of the other kids Marvin's group was looking out for. They stayed under the bridge now, Brady didn't come around often and Sharon was rarely seen. Angie got taller but was still skinny. Miles was pudgy now, apparently they all found a lot of food to share. A few of the new kids had shiny things on and said that they would protect Marvin. They beat up on Dim because he "had some nice lady giving him a home and food and clothes, like a mommy." Dim was hurt that his so called 'friends' now mocked him for the one thing they all used to hope for. He wanted to never go back. **"Those jerks can all sleep in the snow when it comes. I won't open the door for a single one of em."**

 **"Okay, easy killer."** She chuckled and headed to the door. **"I'm making something special tonight so don't wander too far okay? Lock up if you go out and especially if you stay in."**

 **"Got it!"** He felt bad, they had talked and she had told him stories but never once did he ask her name. He did as she said and went to the other room to pick up an interesting book called "The Art of War." There wasn't any pictures and the sentences were written more like a code of conduct, but there were some interesting philosophies he would have to remember for later. Page after page he read, flipping through the book faster and faster with every chapter. He looked up at the clock, seeing the time.

It had been two hours.

She should be coming back by now. He set the book down on the table, then dropped from the tall chair he sat in at the counter only to hear a scream as his feet hit the floor. That came from right outside. His thoughts raced, panic took hold of him. He dashed down the hall, which seemed to grow longer and longer the nearer he got to the door. Every step echoed in his ears, the scream still sounding in his brain. Then he threw the door open and saw it.

Blood.

Everywhere, anywhere he looked it was there. She was laying face down, looking at him as the hatchet sunk into her back. The light faded from her eyes and Dim whimpered helplessly. As he looked up at who would do such a thing he was terrified by what he saw. The tall, twisted bedraggled black hair spilled out from behind a mask of a little girl's smile, complete with makeup and jagged crooked teeth. One of the hatchets sat in her.. its.. free hand. It reached down and took the other one out, along with a little floating blue ball with a tail. The thing, draped in a dress of black and white frill from head to ankles and curly toed shoes, plucked the blue jewel from Her body and opened the crooked smile, swallowing it whole. With a loud wicked gulp it licked its lips, then looked down at the boy.

 **"I have no interest in you."** It said. Turning the axe head backwards it used the long blunt end to catch him in the stomach and double him over. Then, cackling, it left.

He crawled over to her, blood staining the new clothes she had bought him. The food lay scattered all around, but he didn't care. She wasn't moving.. wasn't breathing. He cradled her in his arms and cried, long and loud until someone saw what had happened. They only caught sight of a boy, covered in blood, holding a still woman and bawling his eyes out.

 **"Someone call 9-1-1!"** came the shout. The police! No, no, no, no they couldn't take him away. She was all he had left. He was so scared and so ashamed of what he did next.

He laid her down with her arms folded, closed her eyes like she was asleep, then ran inside. With a quick wash of his hands he took off all the clothes that had blood on them and threw them away. He took whatever he could get his hands on and stuffed it in a backpack. Loaf of bread, dried meat, fresh fruit. He paused and went out the front door one last time. She had bought him a fresh pack of cigarettes and a new plain silver lighter. He stuffed those in the bag and ran as hard and as fast as he could, trying to get away from the house, the pain, the police who would think he did it..

He ran until he was tired, bag banging on his legs the entire time. He stopped when he no longer heard the sirens. He tried to catch his breath and looked up at the bottom of the bridge.

At the bottom of Marvin's bridge.

 **"Well well well, look who it is!"** Marvin jeered, walking up slowly like he owned the whole city.

 **"Leave me alone Marvin."**

 **"Looks like you've been crying. What's wrong? Mommy not there to change your diaper?"** Marvin poked, turning to everyone else who laughed.

 **"..shut up."**

 **"Make me momma's boy."**

 **"I SAID SHUT UP!"** Dim grabbed a rock and threw it as hard as he could, breaking the skin on Marvin's lip.

 **"Big mistake little boy."** He nodded at the other kids, some of whom were only just joining Marvin's group today. They had metal sticks and concrete bricks and a few had rope or chain. And there was Marvin in the very back. Holding his knife.

The first brick impacted and hit with a dull thud. From way back they threw them, while the ones with metal bars got closer and closer. Dim was terrified, more than terrified. He was scared and hurt and angry... and alone. More bricks and rocks came, some missed some hit and hurt, more than when he got hit by fists. The metal bars had come and the first one hit his arm with a clang, followed by another. There were 3 of them, all swinging like he was a green pinata. Dim covered his head and neck with his arms, just wanting it to be over.

 _'Make it stop. Make it stop.'_

 _ **"Make it stop!"**_ He caught a metal bar and punched the kid holding it, only to find that his fist wasn't a fist. It was metal, and heavy and shaped like a ball. The other two with bars stopped as the first one was sent back groaning. Dim turned the metal bar on the one on the right and smacked him in the ear, then again when he fell down. Then again and again and again. He remembered the other one. As he turned around and looked at him the kid got scared and ran away.

It was Dim's turn now. Marvin wouldn't hurt him anymore. Nobody would. He had no friends, no family. He would fight. As he passed the first kid he hit Dim drew his foot back and kicked him in the teeth, some of them scattered on the ground as he spat blood. The two with bricks would be next. Miles was one of them. He and the other both looked at each other and ran forward, hands ready to punch. Dim went to do his metal fist attack only instead of just the ball he launched the ball from his arm attached to a chain. He wrapped the chain around the kid's neck and flung him into Miles' fat stomach. Just for good measure Dim drew his chain limb back as it became human again and was ready to kick Miles in the pills. The metal ball replaced his foot this time, making the chubby jerk yelp in pain.

Dim had no idea what was going on, but Angie and the last kid took a look at each other and laid down the weapons they had picked up. Marvin wasn't having any of it though.

 **"Pick that up. Pick it up! He's just one kid, what are you afraid of? We handled Brady didn't we?"**

Dim froze. Was he telling the truth? Then he looked around and saw a lump behind a bunch of boxes. That was Brady's hat.

That was Brady.

He smiled softly at Dim, blood trailing from his lip onto the ground.

 **"Dim, don't worry.. about me. Be good.. Run away, don't die."** He looked just like She did. Apologetic, worried..

 **"You're not getting away now. You freak!"** Marvin charged, knife brandished high.

 _'Never again. Nobody will ever worry about me again. This time, I'll protect you!'_

Metal clashed against metal, sending Marvin scampering backwards. He wasn't prepared for Dim, the youngest and weakest to hold his own like that. _'Lucky shot'_ thought the thug as he readied for another attack. Dim balled up his fist to make that metal thing happen again, and the little weight crashed against Marvin's knuckles hard enough to make him drop the rusty knife. Brady watched in awe, and then terror. From his pocket Marvin produced a second knife like the first, more jagged and newer but still weathered badly. There was no way to block it in time.

Blood spilled over the concrete in between them. It dripped in steady trickles until the blade came out of his chest.

 **"Not bad small fry. You might just survive."** Dim watched as Marvin dropped his other weapon and sunk to his knees, something red hovering over his body as he fell to the cold hard ground. There were rough patches and a tail that seemed to stick out of the top. Without thinking he instinctively reached out for the little orb, stomach growling desperately, mouth watering as he grasped it in his small hand. Surprisingly it was squishy to the touch, which only beckoned him to hold it closer.

His tongue danced over his lips, eyes widening as he pushed it into his mouth and greedily chewed it up, gulping and smacking as the pangs in his stomach ceased for the moment. He felt.. stronger. He felt alive.

 _'Brady!'_ How could he forget? He turned and ran over to him as fast as his aching body would carry him. He fell by his side and looked over his body. His clothes were stained with blood, his eyes were already glassy and his breath came in sharp and ragged gasps.

 **"It's.. okay Dim. You're strong enough to -cough- make it on your own. Never for-get to be good and care for others. Help those who can't help.. them.. selves.."** He turned his head up, looking past Dim's head at the grey skies. The storm was passing finally but so much was left in ruins as the winds kicked up, one final show of force. **"Dim.. Leave this place.. Make new friends. And above all else, be happy."** Brady's smile spread just a little as his eyes closed for the last time.

Dim shook him, begging him to wake but nobody was around to hear, nobody would help him. After another long while of silent mourning he decided that Brady deserved to be buried properly, so he grabbed the cardboard box under him and pulled, dragging him the short distance to the dirt lot between buildings. It wasn't the same one as they had, but it would do just fine. As he wiped his nose and sniffled away his tears Dim dug a hole deep enough to allow Brady's body a final rest. He slid him in feet first and pushed the dirt over the top of his once friend.

He cried again, a good long deep cry that lasted for what felt like hours. He was truly alone in this wide world now, none of his friends would be coming back to the way things used to be.

Dim was shaken from his distress when he saw something glowing and blue float through the dirt and push it's way to the surface, stopping in front of him. It looked like the thing he ate, but this felt purer, as if to touch it would stain it. The same thing that came out of Her before that thing ate it. And this one spoke.

 **"Thank you Dim."** came Brady's voice. Just like that, it sailed high into the air twisting and turning and flying free to some unknown destination. Dim wiped his eyes and blinked, then stood. He went back to Marvin's body and noticed that he had a very nice pair of sunglasses on him. Seeing him, what he had become, it turned Dim's stomach and made the rage within him boil over. Then he remembered how good it felt to put him in his place for good, and was reminded of that thing that had taken Her.

That thing.

If it wore a mask, so would he. He grabbed the shades and started walking away, off to find that thing everyone referred to as Lizzie Borden.

 **~~~Flashback End~~~**

As Dim finished recounting the story to everyone on the plain he looked out the window at the seas and land way down under them. **"This Jacket, these glasses.. They're all I have left. She clothed me, and even though I hate him he gave me purpose."**

Across the aisle in their respective chairs Soul and Maka wiped their tears from their eyes. Blair, seated now in Dim's lap pawed at him and looked him dead on with those bright honey colored eyes. **"I had no idea it was so important to you. I'm sorry."**

Dim nodded and smiled a little, picking Blair up. As she mewled in confusion he put her back inside where she would normally be, front paws face and bauble sticking out under his chin as hers was scracted softly with one of his fingers. **"We're partners now. It'll take some time to get used to each other and learn the important stuff. You look a lot like her, but younger and longer hair."**

 **"Alright you two, get a room. Or don't, since we're landing soon. "** Indeed it had been a short flight, within an hour or two they'd be in the heart of Italy. The four took the opportunity to nap briefly; whether or not they knew it yet, it was going to be a long night.

After a thankfully brief departure three humans and still sleeping cat filed into the streets toward the hotel they would be sleeping at after their mission was done that night. Soul tossed his bag onto the bed and smirked even while Maka grumbled and suppressed the tick mark on her temple. Midway through redoing the sheets Blair lept to the center of the bed and mussed them up again causing Maka to throw her hands in the air as a sign she had given up.

 **"So Lord Death said Son-Son J. would go first, correct? From the information folder he handed us it says he resides near water so I think the fountain in town would be a good place to start."** Soul offered.

Maka's patience thinned ever further. **"Could you at least try to put a little effort into this?"** Although now that she thought about it the Courtyard fountain at the city center was rarely visited after sundown, so perhaps he was onto something. Thinking about it now, there were no other significant bodies of water nearby.

 **"Nyaa! I vote we get some all you can eat pasta. I could go for some creamy alfredo and sardines right meow!"** Blair poked her head up.

 **"I second that motion."** Soul said with a wave, earning him a Maka chop to the head.

 **"This isn't the time to be eating or sightseeing."** She shot. From the doorway Dim's stomach grumbled, cheeks turning pink. **"Oh brother, I'm doomed."** Maka face palmed, eyebrows twitching as she realized how deep in she was.

They all stalked happily through town, the mood lightening as they took in the scenery on foot and rented motorcycles to climb the hill to the old church on the hill. After touring around and getting their fill of local cuisine they headed back to the hotel as sunset neared.

 **"We ought to at least learn something about who we're here to face from the locals."**

 **"Yeah right Maka, any info we get around here is bound to have bits of folklore mixed in to draw in the tourists."**

 **"Soul's right nya~ The real way to get info is out of people who actually know stuff. So if we're looking for bad guys we ought to find some bad guys to beat up and then ask."**

 **"Not sure it works that way Blair. Besides, how exactly do we find bad guys in a foreign country?"** Just as Dim said it, a large group of tourist hunters appeared, surrounding all four of them. Maka, Soul, Blair in human form, and Dim all stopped in a single row.

 **"Well seek and ye shall find. I do mean us o' course. Hand over everything as a tax for stepping into our side of town and we promise to only rough ya up a little."** The one in the front and center stated, obviously the leader. From the one side and a little ahead someone shouted **" 'Cept the tall one boss, she's pretty sexy. What's say we keep her to ourselves?"**

 **"How bout you get out of our way and we only rough YOU up a little,"** Soul cracked his knuckles for emphasis. **"as a tax for getting on my nerves."**

 **"I don't know who you think you are, but Blair isn't your property. As her weapon I swore a duty to protect her. Stand down now, I don't want to kill you."** Dim took off his sunglasses and set them on the ground, opening his eyes. 40, no 50 in all. And they all stood in a perfect circle. Idiots.

 **"Who the hell do you punks think you-"** The one from before who stood in front of Soul lifted him by his jacket, only to be cut off when the seemingly helpless kid beat his lights out in a single blow.

The next few seconds blurred by, both boys bashing the rowdy group into complete unconsciousness before Dim scooped up his sunglasses and adjusted them with his bangs back over them once more.

 **"Why'd you take your glasses off?"** Maka queried, having not seen his eyes in the brutal beat-down.

 **"I would have asked you to hold them but I can't let you see my eyes just yet."** Dim said. **"I have to make sure I'm not still cursed."**

The other three stared at him, waiting for him to say it was a joke. The moment never happened.

 **"What? Everyone who's ever seen my eyes has died. Her, Marvin, Brady, Lizzie Borden.. It's a curse"**

The four continued walking mostly chuckling at Dim's childish outlook on his bad luck. As it happens, they walked right past an opera house that was setting up for a grand performance that evening. As the signs outside would indicate, that night's entertainment would be none other than a rendition of the classic _Pagliacci._ The sun was near setting and casting long shadows as it crept down the hillside over the sea, peeking out over the tops of buildings and sinking as if to light the waters themselves. With one last warm ray of hope the dusty rafters above the theater saw the mites stir and twirl a brief dance, only to fall into the dark.

The beams creaked and groaned under immense weight. In the balcony window overlooking the stage came a rasping cackle and the shifting of floorboards as a figure clad in a faded red and yellow suit with a puffed collar stared down.

 **"Hehehehe. O how I do so love a good show. Eh?"** Their head lifted slightly, bulbous red nose twitching as it sniffed the air and turned on heel to guide them toward the window. Looking out between slightly rotted beams of wood and unkempt broken glass the makeup on their face stretched back into an unnatural grin, lips curled beyond humanly possible at the corners. **"What's this? A snack I smell. Three? No, four of them.. -snort snort- And a couple of them are little boys too. Oh delightful, that really puts the curls in my curlicues.. the sprrrrrrring in my step.."** Drool spilled from their painted-on lips, forked tongue licking over short pointy teeth. He scratched delicately with gloved fingers at the hairless top of his head, the red afro all around the sides seeming to perk up. **"Daddy's got some hunting to do.."** With that he drew between his frilly gloves a measure of wire that shimmered by the light of the moon, laugh building slowly from his gut over the opera beginning in the theater behind and below.

 **(A/N:** For dramatic effect, play _Vesti la Giubba ('Il Pagliacci')_ here while imagining a long drawn out cackle.)

Below, in the town square, Soul's plan to wait it out by the town fountain was panning out about as poorly as could be expected. Not only was there no sign of Jason, there was no sign of anyone, a fact which made Blair's hairs stand on end. She could definitely hear something nearby, but who or whatever it was making the noise was avoiding them on purpose.

 **"Hey, Dim. You can see souls right?"** Blair turned to her partner and asked quietly.

 **"Yeah, why?"** The young boy replied.

 **"My senses are going berserk; there's something evil around but I don't know what it is or where."** Again she got that feeling that she was being watched. It made her skin crawl not seeing whatever creep was staring at her.

 **"Maka, you and I should sweep the nearby area in case it's our mark. Jason may be hiding nearby waiting for us for a surprise attack."** Dim had to admit that now Blair mentioned it the feeling he got at the moment was disturbing.

Maka nodded softly, looking at Soul once to affirm that if she saw anything they moved on her go. **"I'll take the left side of the fountain, pretend I'm looking over your shoulder. You take the right."** Dim nodded and took off his glasses. The two took a slow inhale and let it out with a calming sigh, activating their soul sights in unison. Dim could see many blue souls of ordinary humans leading ordinary lives. Maka saw them as well. **"You've probably figured it out by now but blue souls are good normal people. From this distance you won't be able to read them, and won't have to. It's the red souls we're after. Red souls are Kishin Eggs, those are the ones that we meisters need to feed our weapons. Blue souls are off limits."**

 **"Copy that leader. Wait.."** about 2 blocks away was a red dot that rose from a sewer grate onto the main walk. Dim recalled that as the place where they were confronted earlier by the bunch of thugs, if memory recalled.. **"I think I have Jason, he came out of the sewers at the intersections of Vista Lago and Cristallo. But that's so far away Blair, how can you sense him from here?"** As he posed the question he carefully eased his shades back into place.

 **"She's not."** Maka pointed at the rooftop opposite her and behind where Dim was looking. Soul turned his head up to follow her finger and found illuminated by the light of the moon a silhouette of a large round figure with unusual proportions, long arms, and hair wider than his shoulders. The figure's eyes glinted briefly in their sockets. **"That must be him. Killer Clown John Wayne Gacy Jr."**

 **"You've heard of me? I'm impressed.."** He lept from the top of the building, swinging from his long arms this way and that like a chimp in tree branches as he clung to the windowsills and tumbled steadily lower onto the cobbled pavement. **"Though I'll be more impressed on a full stomach. Be a dear and hand over the younglings would you my sweet?"** He raised an upturned palm to Blair, gloved fingers dancing in the air reminiscent of an inverted spider.

 **"Blair, this one's our target. Maka and Soul aren't supposed to interfere so let's get ours done fast and show them how well we work together thus far."** Dim began to glow and took on his weapon form in full, dropping full into Blair's hands.

 **"Right. Maka, Soul, you guys just keep your eyes on us and make sure Sonson J doesn't get away. We've got this one in the bag."** The chain hanging between her hands tightened, looping once around her right hand and her fingertips holding the safe side of the blade pointed out. Dim watched from inside and felt her soul waves calming, along with his own becoming in sync with hers. He felt it, they were even more in tune with each other now than they were during their fight with Kid.

 _ **"Blair, he's got a lot of reach with his really long stringy arms and those hands are made for grabbing. If it's possible get me in close and finish him off with a linear strike."**_ the young man stated. There were very few exploitable weaknesses as far as he could see.

 **"Lin-ear?"** Blair looked utterly confused, causing everyone there to deadpan as she tried to piece together the meaning of the word.

 _ **"Never mind, just get in close and go for the finisher."**_ he said, regarding the calm clown warily. What was he up to not making the first move when he had the jump?

Blair took her first couple steps slowly, then another two, three more, running, all out sprinting with both weapon ends kept close to her. The figure swiped a large frilly hand at her which she avoided too easily. As he stepped back and drew his hand back across his body something glinted in the pale moonlight.

 _ **"Blair, get back!"**_ Indeed she had gotten close to him just as planned, and the attack was way too easy once he missed, but now Blair's arm was caught around her neck and both being held in place by a thin wire that dug into her outfit and squeezed her neck even tighter than the pumpkin-patterned choker she wore. She was trapped. _ **"Dammit!"**_ In that moment when she was grasping at her neck and struggling to breath the sight of Her body as it lay in the grass superimposed itself in the forefront of Dim's mind. _'But not this time'_ he told himself. Moving on his own Dim slinked out from his place under her hand and cut the wire that bound her wrist and neck, sending it flying in both directions and immediately releasing both of them from the all-too-simple trap. _**"He let us get close on purpose. Sorry Blair. Are you hurt?"**_

 **"-cough cough- 'S okay, I'll live. But now I really don't like this guy"** She responded, taking up her arms again but tightening her grip on the handle of the blade.

As Soul and Maka watched the two of them Maka's senses suddenly went on high alert. The figure of Jason had run all the way over to watch them fight and was standing right beside her. Flinching, she grabbed Soul's arm which stunned him briefly only for the weapon to realize why. As Soul spun around and pointed his blade Jason slipped the bag of of his head just high enough to stick his tongue out at the pair and start running away, knife shimmering as he ran across the courtyard.

Meanwhile, Blair had managed to get Dim wrapped around another wire which Killer Clown weaved expertly into a spider's web. When Dim got caught in it he let it go and Dim found that while not sticky it seemed to tangle around him all the same which led to some choice words as the tangle was undone by Blair's hand and nails in the middle of the fight. Every so often between repeated slashes at Gacy's clothes Dim and Blair would end up tangled and twisted in the wire which Gacy was more than happy to discard only to magically produce more between his grossly long and oddly bent digits.

 **"Not too bad huh? Normally I liked using balloons and leaving behind a little balloon animal but you're becoming annoying little gnats and so I shall revel in your end."** His fists closed together and he swung them downward then upward behind, skipping rope with his own arms as he got closer and closer to them both.

 **"There's got to be a weakness.."** Blair looked over and around at the clown but saw nothing except his stupid expression of victory, having smacked them both around fairly well. His arms were long and lanky which looked out of place on his shorter round body. His short stubby legs did little to help but to attack them would take time and patience if not proper planning. Everything about this kishin egg was stupid from his goofy red shoes to his red round

 _ **"Nose! Blair, you gotta go for the nose. Throw the round heavy end right up his nose in a straight line. Think of it like your pumpkin ball thingy and shoot it really hard at him."**_

 **"But last time we tried that we had to get up close and he nearly choked me out with wire. There's got to be another way."** Blair watched the clown bring his hands down to the cobbled stone and bound over them. He did it again now only a few feet from them. She had an idea. **"Pum-pumpkin pumpkin Peter's Pumpkin!"**

Across the courtyard, Jason with Maka and Soul in tow was nearing the end of the open area and would soon be between buildings where it would be much harder for Maka to swing Soul any way besides vertically. The promenades of Italy were remarkably tight and left little room to fight as the flat ground was sandwiched snugly between buildings that were perfectly vertical for several stories. In other words, if Jason were to escape into these narrow corridors the overwhelming advantage would be his.

Still running, Maka flipped Soul's bladed head and swung at the jersey Jason wore, splitting the number 13 between the numbers as the tough fabric bunched up when Maka stopped. Soul shivered with disgust as the shaft head came into contact with the bare skin of the man's back, tugging on his shirt and threatening to tear it down the middle. Maka felt the tension as she pulled and planted her feet, groaning as Jason was lifted off of his feet and sent tumbling end over end backwards through the air, boot smacking into the back of John Wayne Gacy's fat head before continuing along with the rest of him as he flattened out on top of a low angled rooftop. Maka and Soul vaulted onto Gacy's head shortly after, using him like a springboard to follow Jason.

Gacy, fists trying to hammer their way through the silhouette of a pumpkin that encased Blair and Dim, sputtered and shook his head as he was whammied not once but twice up the back of his skull, causing him to step back and shake his head.

 **"Now!"** Blair cried, throwing out the pointed end of the kyoketsu-shoge. A straight line, drilling squarely for his nose. But Gacy's big meaty hand merely clasped around it and dripped a little blood from his glove.

 **"Nice try kid, but I prefer you when you looked more like a little boy.."** Within his palm Dim could feel himself being squeezed. Though his physical body wasn't being damaged he could feel the wires between Gacy's fingers tightening around his chain as though he were actually being strangled in weapon form. The air was being cut off, it was harder to concentrate now.

 _ **Wham!**_ Gacy was shocked and scrambled, blinded by a momentary white light. Blair caught the weighted end as it came back around and Dim's bladed end popped loose, both now caught in her hands.

 _'She bounced me off the ground to get under his guard while he wasn't looking and broke his nose. Incredible.'_ inside his weapon Dim clutched his throat and gasped for breath. **"Let's finish him Blair. Together."**

 **"Right!"** Blair proclaimed. Still holding his nose and groaning Gacy looked at the woman as she ran forward, purple hair flowing behind her then swirling as she ran up his body. For an instant all he could see was her hair twisting, feeling hands on his shoulders that tapped lightly, then pushed him forward. He lurched, only to be caught around the neck by something cold and hard..

Blair grasped both ends of the chain and pulled, ironically strangling him in the same way that he did to them both. He writhed and reached behind his head to find her, but Blair's boot pushed between his shoulders and with a loud snap the large man was stilled forever. At first neither one of them were willing to let him up until his body began to bubble and exploded with confetti, leaving the red orb of a kishin egg soul floating before them. It was over, their mission was a success.

Meanwhile, up on the rooftop behind them, Jason and Maka and Soul were still battling it out, machete against scythe as sparks showered and metal rang against metal. Maka deflected another wild swing behind her and spun Soul's shaft to jab the butt end into Jason's gut, slamming him into a brick chimney before flourishing the scythe once more.

 **"It's not fair.. It's so unjust. The DWMA sanctions murder freely, why should they get to have all the fun? "** Peeling himself off of the chimney Jason slashed his machete along the length of Soul's blade, until Maka twisted her grip and removed his hands. Before he could cry out she spun full circle and reaped through his midriff, unraveling Jason's body until only a small puddle and his mask remained as the kishin egg descended gracefully into Soul's grasp.

 **"DWMA doesn't murder idiot. We catch and silence murderers like you because it's our job."** With that Soul plopped the juicy looking soul onto his tongue and chowed down, smacking his lips accidentally as the meal slid over his sharp teeth and practically melted in his mouth with a loud gulp. The weapon let a sigh of relief as the power surged within him and his hunger was satisfied. **"Maka, thank you for a good meal."**

 **"You guys finished too? Great, looks like we're right on then!"** Blair cheered as she in cat form ascended on a pumpkin with Dim in weapon form around her neck. The soul of John Wayne Gacy was clasped in a knot of chain and as he slithered off of her into human form it managed to remain in his hand. The hunger was there again, even more intense than the last time.

 **"Hey Soul, Dim.. You guys seem to really like those kishin eggs. What exactly do they taste like?"** Maka, despite her endless search of knowledge, had never thought to ask this of Soul before, but now seeing another weapon just as fixated on them as he was she was dying to know.

 **"That's a good question, I was wondering myself nyaa~!"** Blair scooted closer on her pumpkin, looking over the pulsing red soul.

 **"It's not really so much the taste for me as it is the consistency, the way it feels going down ya know?"** Soul tried. There was really no way to explain it, it just felt.. right to him.

 **"Perhaps if you tasted it yourself you'd understand."** Dim held out the beating red soul, almost reminiscent of a heart which made Maka fidget uncomfortably.

 **"I think I'll pass thanks."** Maka held up her hands, looking a little nervous.

 **"I'll try it!"** Blair's whiskers flinched as she sniffed it, getting no scent at all. Her tiny cat mouth opened wide and bit the thing with a cute little 'Nom!' only for her to blanch and withdraw nearly instantly. It was without a doubt the worst thing she had ever tasted, salty bitter and sour all at once disagreeing with her rough taste buds. **"How do you eat that?!"** she managed to get out between spitting and sputtering to get the flavor out. She even tried licking her own fur but the taste remained.

Dim plopped it in his mouth, chewing and drooling a little as the bittersweet refreshing taste hit his tongue, every time he bit into it a little more urgent than the last. There was very little to compare it to, but best he could define was the candy bars that he remembered as a kid, sweet creamy and a little bitter with some kind of umami flavor. It was absolutely amazing. He finished it off with an unceremonious belch.

 **"I don't see what's wrong, it tasted good to me. Maybe you just can't stomach souls because you're not a weapon."** Then a thought crossed his mind, one which he failed to consider earlier. **"You guys didn't look did you? When I took off my glasses earlier?"**

 **"No"** came the unanimous response from Maka and Blair.

 **"I did."** replied Soul. Dim felt an unusual amount of concern, this feeling that he had before. Soul was doomed.

Same time, across town, the gang of thugs who were unfortunate enough to have met the students were gathered in a church they were using as their hangout. All fifty of them were gathered around one individual, dressed in all black with pink hair and eyes darting every which way. They shouted from every direction, but whoever this odd person was was in the middle of a conversation with someone else.. something else.

From the dead of night, by the pale light of the moon, piercing screams could be heard. Blood spilled as a hooded figure watched in eager anticipation.

* * *

Chapter end!

A/N: So again sorry for taking so long. The reason Dim's flashback looks a bit juvenile and written the way it is is simply because i wanted to convey the feeling and emotion as a young mind experiences something traumatic like that. Remember the monster in your closet or the one under your bed? How much more frightening the idea was when you were young as opposed to when you grew up and looked? That's the idea. It came to me while reading the Shining on my break at work. How young minds perceive frightening things are always mortal terror.

The only other real note i want to make is my take on how a soul ought to taste. Im my opinion, the lack of crunching sound tells me that souls have a creamy consistency and since they appear to be kinda gelatinous, i thought that would mean they would be all soft. my best and only guess is that they taste like milky way midnight candy bars with peanut butter, only because the first time i watched Soul Eater was around Halloween and I binge watched the first 14 episodes while munching on coffee, peanut butter on toast, and a halloween sized bag of fun sized milky way midnight bars. Good times.

Dim: =.= You need help, dear author.

yes dim, yes i do. later taters!


End file.
